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  • Dispersal as a mechanism limiting diversity of high latitudes
    Jorgensen, Eric E.
    The pervasiveness across taxa, space, and time of the latitudinal gradient in species diversity is conventionally thought to suggest a common cause that is not yet identified. Conventionally, the ... cause of the gradient is thought to originating at high latitudes or attributable to random patterns have been proposed. Most discussions of causes relative to the diversity gradient are elaborate and burdened with assumptions. A parsimonious causal mechanism that accounts for the accumulation of relatively high amounts of genetic homogeneity within populations at high latitudes could result in suppressed speciation rates. Suppressed speciation rates would, in turn, eventually lead to accumulation of fewer species at high latitudes and the appearence of a latitudinal diversity gradient. Dispersal ability could be a parsimonious cause for the diversity gradient, and species adapted to high latitudes should disperse widely. Therefore, adjacent local populations at high latitudes should be more genetically similar than adjacent local populations in tropic - when the same longitudinal distance separates local populations. Ultimately, detailed genetic investigations and analyses of extant collectionsand data will be needed to test this proposed mechanism. Already, however, some genetic evidence supports this idea: low latitude populations ofthe Eastern Woodrat Neotoma floridana show more mtDNA variability than high latitude populations. Also, some behavioral data are supportive: Red Fox Vulpes displays a notable northward bias in their dispersal direction. Te uncovering of a parsimonious mechanism that accounts for the latitudinal diversity gradient would resolve decades of discussion and provide valuable insights into the topic of biodiversity. It may be that a parsimonious mechanism for dispersal ability is supported by some data, and awaits more detailed investigations.
    Vir: Biota : revija za biologijo in ekologijo =journal of biology and ecology. - ISSN 1580-4208 (Vol. 1, no. 2, 2000, str. 67-76)
    Vrsta gradiva - članek, sestavni del
    Leto - 2000
    Jezik - angleški
    COBISS.SI-ID - 45918721

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