Elevational patterns of frog species richness and endemic richness in the Hengduan Mountains, China: geometric constraints, area and climate effects

Ecography ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 919-927 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cuizhang Fu ◽  
Xia Hua ◽  
Jun Li ◽  
Zheng Chang ◽  
Zhichao Pu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Geometric Constraints ◽  
Hengduan Mountains ◽  
Climate Effects ◽  
Frog Species

Habitat use by stream-breeding frogs in south-east Sulawesi, with some preliminary observations on community organization

2004 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 439-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graeme R. Gillespie ◽  
David Lockie ◽  
Michael P. Scroggie ◽  
Djoko T. Iskandar
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Habitat Use ◽  
Community Organization ◽  
Habitat Associations ◽  
Habitat Partitioning ◽  
Tropical Stream ◽  
Frog Species ◽  
Oviposition Sites ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Spatial Habitat

The habitat associations of stream-breeding frogs were examined along a series of stream transects on Buton Island in south-east Sulawesi, Indonesia. Of the eight frog species located along streams, four were observed breeding in stream habitats. We examined spatial habitat partitioning among these species. Three of the four species were found to be associated with a non-random selection of the available perch sites. Strong partitioning between species in habitat associations was found; partitioning of the available habitat space was primarily associated with differences in proximity to stream features, and in the height of perch sites. General observations indicated that oviposition sites of most species were associated with the microhabitats in which the adult frogs were found. All four stream-breeding species appear to have synchronous breeding phenologies and the spatial relationships of these species within the habitat space appear to reflect partitioning of calling sites and oviposition sites. The stream-breeding frog community in this region of Sulawesi has much lower species richness and less specialized habitat use compared with other tropical stream-breeding frog communities in the region.

scholarly journals Reduced predator species richness drives the body gigantism of a frog species on the Zhoushan Archipelago in China

2010 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yiming Li ◽  
Feng Xu ◽  
Zhongwei Guo ◽  
Xuan Liu ◽  
Changnan Jin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
The Body ◽  
Predator Species ◽  
Frog Species ◽  
Zhoushan Archipelago

scholarly journals Species Richness of the Family Ericaceae along an Elevational Gradient in Yunnan, China

Forests ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ji-Hua Wang ◽  
Yan-Fei Cai ◽  
Lu Zhang ◽  
Chuan-Kun Xu ◽  
Shi-Bao Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Variation Partitioning ◽  
Elevational Gradient ◽  
Geometric Constraints ◽  
Mean Annual Precipitation ◽  
Mean Annual Temperature ◽  
The Family ◽  
Species Area ◽  
Upper Third

Knowledge about how species richness varies along spatial and environmental gradients is important for the conservation and use of biodiversity. The Ericaceae is a major component of alpine and subalpine vegetation globally. However, little is known about the spatial pattern of species richness and the factors that drive that richness in Ericaceae. We investigated variation in species richness of Ericaceae along an elevational gradient in Yunnan, China, and used a variation partitioning analysis based on redundancy analysis ordination to examine how those changes might be influenced by the mid-domain effect, the species-area relationship, and climatic variables. Species richness varied significantly with elevation, peaking in the upper third of the elevational gradient. Of the factors examined, climate explained a larger proportion of the variance in species richness along the elevational gradient than either land area or geometric constraints. Species richness showed a unimodal relationship with mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitation. The elevational pattern of species richness for Ericaceae was shaped by the combined effects of climate and competition. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of the potential effects of climate change on species richness for Ericaceae.

scholarly journals Worldwide patterns in species richness of falconiformes: analytical null models, geometric constraints, and the mid-domain effect

2004 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-308
Author(s):  
T. F. L.V. B. Rangel ◽  
J. A. F. Diniz-filho
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Primary Productivity ◽  
Net Primary Productivity ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Null Models ◽  
Geometric Constraints ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Spatial Gradients ◽  
Available Energy ◽  
Surrogate Variable

Recently, the hypothesis that the geographic distribution of species could be influenced by the shape of the domain edges, the so-called Mid-Domain Effect (MDE), has been included as one of the five credible hypotheses for explaining spatial gradients in species richness, despite all the unsuccessful current attempts to prove empirically the validity of MDE. We used data on spatial worldwide distributions of Falconiformes to evaluate the validity of MDE assumptions, incorporated into two different sorts of null models at a global level and separately across five domains/landmasses. Species richness values predicted by the null models of the MDE and those values predicted by Net Primary Productivity, a surrogate variable expressing the effect of available energy, were compared in order to evaluate which hypothesis better predicts the observed values. Our tests showed that MDE continues to lack empirical support, regardless of its current acceptability, and so, does not deserve to be classified as one possible explanation of species richness gradients.

scholarly journals Low predictive power of mid-domain effect to explain geographic species richness patterns in Palearctic songbirds

2007 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 197-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Aliabadian ◽  
C. S. Roselaar ◽  
R. Sluys ◽  
V. Nijman
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Predictive Power ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Null Model ◽  
Species Range ◽  
Geometric Constraints ◽  
Diversity Patterns ◽  
Distribution Maps ◽  
Biogeographic Patterns ◽  
Richness Patterns

In the study of diversity patterns, the Mid-domain effect (MDE), which explains gradients in diversity solely on the basis of geometric constraints, has emerged as a null-model against which other hypotheses can be tested. The effectiveness, measured by its predictive power, of these MDE models appears to depend on the size of the study area and the range-sizes of the taxa considered. Here we test the predictive power of MDE on the species richness patterns of birds and assess its effectiveness for a variety of species range sizes. We digitised distribution maps of 889 species of songbird endemic to the Palearctic, and analysed the emergent biogeographic patterns with WORLDMAP software. MDE had a predictive power of 20% when all songbirds were included. Major hotspots were located south of the area where MDE predicted the highest species-richness, and some of the observed coldspots were in the centre of the Palearctic, contradicting the predictions of the MDE. MDE had little explanatory power (3-19%) for all but the largest range sizes, whereas MDE performed equal or better for the large-ranged species (20-34%) compared to the overall model. Overall MDE did not accurate explain species-richness patterns in Palearctic songbirds. Subsets of larger-range species did not always have a larger predictive power than smaller-range species or the overall model. Despite their low predictive power, MDE models can have a role to play in explaining biogeographic patterns but other variables need to be included in the model as well.

scholarly journals Endemism and diversity of small mammals along two neighboring Bornean mountains

PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e7858 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Camacho-Sanchez ◽  
Melissa T.R. Hawkins ◽  
Fred Tuh Yit Yu ◽  
Jesus E. Maldonado ◽  
Jennifer A. Leonard
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Species Diversity ◽  
General Theory ◽  
Elevational Gradient ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Geometric Constraints ◽  
Local Effects ◽  
Spatial Factors ◽  
Historical Factors ◽  
Small Mammal Community

Mountains offer replicated units with large biotic and abiotic gradients in a reduced spatial scale. This transforms them into well-suited scenarios to evaluate biogeographic theories. Mountain biogeography is a hot topic of research and many theories have been proposed to describe the changes in biodiversity with elevation. Geometric constraints, which predict the highest diversity to occur in mid-elevations, have been a focal part of this discussion. Despite this, there is no general theory to explain these patterns, probably because of the interaction among different predictors with the local effects of historical factors. We characterize the diversity of small non-volant mammals across the elevational gradient on Mount (Mt.) Kinabalu (4,095 m) and Mt. Tambuyukon (2,579 m), two neighboring mountains in Borneo, Malaysia. We documented a decrease in species richness with elevation which deviates from expectations of the geometric constraints and suggests that spatial factors (e.g., larger diversity in larger areas) are important. The lowland small mammal community was replaced in higher elevations (from above ~1,900 m) with montane communities consisting mainly of high elevation Borneo endemics. The positive correlation we find between elevation and endemism is concordant with a hypothesis that predicts higher endemism with topographical isolation. This supports lineage history and geographic history could be important drivers of species diversity in this region.

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