Large range sizes link fast life histories with high species richness across wet tropical tree floras.

ABSTRACT: Understanding how the traits of lineages are related to diversification is key for elucidating the origin of variation in species richness. Here, we test whether traits are related to species richness among lineages of trees from all major biogeographical settings of the lowland wet tropics. We explore whether variation in mortality rate, breeding system and maximum diameter are related to species richness, either directly or via associations with range size, among 463 genera that contain wet tropical forest trees. For Amazonian genera, we also explore whether traits are related to species richness via variation among genera in mean species-level range size. Lineages with higher mortality rates-faster life-history strategies-have larger ranges in all biogeographic settings and have higher

SUBMITTER: Baker TR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11807110 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature