Testing biodiversity theory using species richness of reef-building corals across a depth gradient.

ABSTRACT: Natural environmental gradients encompass systematic variation in abiotic factors that can be exploited to test competing explanations of biodiversity patterns. The species-energy (SE) hypothesis attempts to explain species richness gradients as a function of energy availability. However, limited empirical support for SE is often attributed to idiosyncratic, local-scale processes distorting the underlying SE relationship. Meanwhile, studies are also often confounded by factors such as sampling biases, dispersal boundaries and unclear definitions of energy availability. Here, we used spatially structured observations of 8460 colonies of photo-symbiotic reef-building corals and a null-model to test whether energy can explain observed coral species richness over depth. Species richness

SUBMITTER: Roberts TE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6832186 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature