Exploring the causes underlying the latitudinal variation in range sizes: Evidence for Rapoport's rule in spiny lizards (genus Sceloporus).

ABSTRACT: Species' range size is a fundamental unit of analysis in biodiversity research, given its association with extinction risk and species richness. One of its most notable patterns is its positive relationship with latitude, which has been considered an ecogeographical rule called Rapoport's rule. Despite this rule being confirmed for various taxonomic groups, its validity has been widely discussed and several taxa still lack a formal assessment. Different hypotheses have been proposed to explain their potential mechanisms, with those related to temperature and elevational being the most supported thus far. In this study, we employed two level of analyses (cross-species and assemblage) to investigate the validity of Rapoport's rule in spiny lizards (genus Sceloporus). Additionally, we evaluat

SUBMITTER: Lopez-Reyes K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11233011 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature