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Latitudinal diversity relationships of fiddler crabs: biogeographic differences united by temperature
Author(s) -
Levinton Jeffrey,
Mackie Joshua
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
global ecology and biogeography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.164
H-Index - 152
eISSN - 1466-8238
pISSN - 1466-822X
DOI - 10.1111/geb.12064
Subject(s) - latitude , species richness , subtropics , ecology , temperate climate , tropics , intertidal zone , species diversity , geography , biology , geodesy
Aim To investigate whether latitudinal diversity gradients differ among biogeographic realms for members of a closely related clade and to examine whether differences can be explained by environmental differences such as the temperature gradient. Location I ndo‐ P acific, eastern P acific and western A tlantic temperate to tropical coastal intertidal. Methods We digitized the ranges of fiddler crabs ( D ecapoda, O cypodidae, genus U ca ) and calculated standing diversity as a function of latitude in the I ndo‐west‐ P acific, eastern‐ P acific A mericas and western A tlantic regions. We examined correlations between diversity and summer sea surface temperature, water column primary productivity, and also investigated the contribution of spatial autocorrelation. Results There was a latitudinal diversity gradient with a peak in the tropics or subtropics, but richness as a function of latitude differed by region. The western A tlantic had a broad zone of equal diversity with a peak that corresponds to the G ulf of M exico– C aribbean B asin. The eastern P acific had a distinct peak of diversity at about 10° N latitude corresponding to P anama. The I ndo‐west‐ P acific had a broad relatively flat upper level of diversity, reaching a peak at about 20° S latitude corresponding to the north coast of A ustralia. In both the eastern P acific and western A tlantic, N orthern H emisphere diversity was greater than S outhern H emisphere. Species richness of the three regions was positively and strongly correlated with air and sea surface temperature at the start of summer. In contrast, diversities were weakly and inconsistently correlated with productivity. Main conclusions This paper shows that a physical factor is more important in explaining latitude distributions than regional cladal structure or presumed dispersal patterns. While observed diversity–latitude functions are region specific, the feature seen across regions to most strongly explaining the pattern is temperature.