Open AccessA review on trade-offs at the warm and cold ends of geographical distributions
Author(s) -
Yvonne Willi,
Josh Van Buskirk
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
philosophical transactions - royal society. biological sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.753
H-Index - 272
eISSN - 1471-2970
pISSN - 0962-8436
DOI - 10.1098/rstb.2021.0022
Subject(s) - ecological niche , adaptation (eye) , context (archaeology) , range (aeronautics) , niche , ecology , trade off , biology , economic geography , geography , habitat , paleontology , materials science , neuroscience , composite material
Species’ range limits are ubiquitous. This suggests that the evolution of the ecological niche is constrained in general and at the edges of distributions in particular. While there may be many ecological and genetic reasons for this phenomenon, here we focus on the potential role of trade-offs. We performed a literature search on evidence for trade-offs associated with geographical or elevational range limits. The majority of trade-offs were reported as relevant at either the cold end of species' distribution (n = 19), the warm or dry end (n = 19) or both together (n = 14). One common type of trade-off involved accelerating growth or development (27%), often at the cost of small size. Another common type involved resistance to or tolerance of climatic extremes that occur at certain periods of the year (64%), often at the cost of small size or reduced growth. Trade-offs overlapped with some of the classic trade-offs reported in life-history evolution or thermal adaptation. The results highlight several general insights about species' niches and ranges, and we outline how future research should better integrate the ecological context and test for the presence of microevolutionary trade-offs.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Species’ ranges in the face of changing environments (Part II)’.