Premium
ARE RANGE‐SIZE DISTRIBUTIONS CONSISTENT WITH SPECIES‐LEVEL HERITABILITY?
Author(s) -
Borregaard Michael K.,
Gotelli Nicholas J.,
Rahbek Carsten
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.84
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1558-5646
pISSN - 0014-3820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2012.01581.x
Subject(s) - heritability , range (aeronautics) , biology , statistics , evolutionary biology , mathematics , materials science , composite material
The concept of species‐level heritability is widely contested. Because it is most likely to apply to emergent, species‐level traits, one of the central discussions has focused on the potential heritability of geographic range size. However, a central argument against range‐size heritability has been that it is not compatible with the observed shape of present‐day species range‐size distributions (SRDs), a claim that has never been tested. To assess this claim, we used forward simulation of range‐size evolution in clades with varying degrees of range‐size heritability, and compared the output of three different models to the range‐size distribution of the South American avifauna. Although there were differences among the models, a moderate‐to‐high degree of range‐size heritability consistently leads to SRDs that were similar to empirical data. These results suggest that range‐size heritability can generate realistic SRDs, and may play an important role in shaping observed patterns of range sizes.