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What causes latitudinal gradients in species diversity? Evolutionary processes and ecological constraints on swallowtail biodiversity.
Ecol Lett. 2012 Mar; 15(3):267-77
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22 Feb 2012
New Finding
DOI: 10.3410/f.13917960.15375061
This elegant study combines biogeography, phylogeny, climate history and plate tectonics to explore the processes determining the latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) in papilionid butterflies, demonstrating along the way the limitations of single-factor correlations in explaining patterns of diversity.
Fabien...Continue reading
Fabien...Continue reading
This elegant study combines biogeography, phylogeny, climate history and plate tectonics to explore the processes determining the latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) in papilionid butterflies, demonstrating along the way the limitations of single-factor correlations in explaining patterns of diversity.
Fabien Condamine and colleagues examined papilionid (swallowtail) butterflies, 80% of which are tropical. They used molecular data for 203 of the 550 described species to establish a phylogeny; divergence times were estimated using a Bayesian relaxed clock and five fossil specimens to constrain minimum ages. Ancestral host associations were estimated from larval host plant preferences, and ancestral area reconstructions explored with a dispersal-extinction-cladogenesis model.
The study indicates an Eocene boreotropical origin for swallowtails, with subsequent repeated dispersal events. Lineage-through-time plots strongly suggest that diversification was more rapid in the tropical Papilioninae than in the more temperate Parnassiinae. Overall, this nice study lends support to the hypotheses that diversification proceeds more rapidly in tropical regions, and points to the importance of niche conservation as well as niche evolution.
We need more studies like this to shift our focus towards complex explanations for the apparently simple pattern of the latitudinal cline in diversity, and away from simplistic explanations in terms of single factors such as climate.
Fabien Condamine and colleagues examined papilionid (swallowtail) butterflies, 80% of which are tropical. They used molecular data for 203 of the 550 described species to establish a phylogeny; divergence times were estimated using a Bayesian relaxed clock and five fossil specimens to constrain minimum ages. Ancestral host associations were estimated from larval host plant preferences, and ancestral area reconstructions explored with a dispersal-extinction-cladogenesis model.
The study indicates an Eocene boreotropical origin for swallowtails, with subsequent repeated dispersal events. Lineage-through-time plots strongly suggest that diversification was more rapid in the tropical Papilioninae than in the more temperate Parnassiinae. Overall, this nice study lends support to the hypotheses that diversification proceeds more rapidly in tropical regions, and points to the importance of niche conservation as well as niche evolution.
We need more studies like this to shift our focus towards complex explanations for the apparently simple pattern of the latitudinal cline in diversity, and away from simplistic explanations in terms of single factors such as climate.
Disclosures
None declared
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Clarke A: F1000Prime Recommendation of [Condamine FL et al., Ecol Lett 2012, 15(3):267-77]. In F1000Prime, 22 Feb 2012; DOI: 10.3410/f.13917960.15375061. F1000Prime.com/13917960#eval15375061
F1000Prime Recommendations, Dissents and Comments for [Condamine FL et al., Ecol Lett 2012, 15(3):267-77]. In F1000Prime, 20 May 2013; F1000Prime.com/13917960
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Ecology Letters (2012) ABSTRACT: The latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) is one of the most striking ecological patterns on our planet. Determining the evolutionary causes of this pattern remains a challenging task. To address this issue, previous LDG studies have usually relied on correlations between environmental variables and species richness, only considering evolutionary processes indirectly. Instead, we use a phylogenetically integrated approach to investigate the ecological and evolutionary processes responsible for the global LDG observed in swallowtail butterflies (Papilionidae). We find evidence for the 'diversification rate hypothesis' with different diversification rates between two similarly aged tropical and temperate clades. We conclude that the LDG is caused by (1) climatically driven changes in both clades based on evidence of responses to cooling and warming events, and (2) distinct biogeographical histories constrained by tropical niche conservatism and niche evolution. This multidisciplinary approach provides new findings that allow better understanding of the factors that shape LDGs.
© 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd/CNRS.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01737.x
PMID: 22251895
