Climatic zonation drives latitudinal variation in speciation mechanisms.

ABSTRACT: Many groups of organisms show greater species richness in the tropics than in the temperate zone, particularly in tropical montane regions. Forty years ago, Janzen suggested that more limited temperature seasonality in the tropics leads to greater climatic zonation and more climatic barriers to organismal dispersal along elevational gradients in the tropics relative to temperate regions. These factors could lead to differences in how species arise in tropical versus temperate regions and possibly contribute to greater tropical diversity. However, no studies have compared the relationships among climate, elevational distribution and speciation in a group inhabiting both tropical and temperate regions. Here, we compare elevational and climatic divergence among 30 sister-species pairs (14 tro

SUBMITTER: Kozak KH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2291165 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature