Temperature dependence, spatial scale, and tree species diversity in eastern Asia and North America.

ABSTRACT: The increase of biodiversity from poles to equator is one of the most pervasive features of nature. For 2 centuries since von Humboldt, Wallace, and Darwin, biogeographers and ecologists have investigated the environmental and historical factors that determine the latitudinal gradient of species diversity, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. The recently proposed metabolic theory of ecology (MTE) aims to explain ecological patterns and processes, including geographical patterns of species richness, in terms of the effects of temperature and body size on the metabolism of organisms. Here we use 2 comparable databases of tree distributions in eastern Asia and North America to investigate the roles of environmental temperature and spatial scale in shaping geographical patt

SUBMITTER: Wang Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2714761 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature