A Theory of Global Biodiversity (MPB-60)

Worm, Boris; Tittensor, Derek P.

doi:10.23943/9781400890231

Cited by 44 publications

(67 citation statements)

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“…Reef fishes also represent a major food source for millions of people (Teh, Teh, & Sumaila, ) and vary considerably in body size (Kulbicki et al, ). We show that, after controlling for the sampling‐related group effects, and consistent with recent theoretical predictions (Allen & White, ; Reuman et al, ; Tittensor & Worm, ; Worm & Tittensor, ), body size, reef area and temperature are systematically correlated with species richness and accumulation across spatial scales. In light of our findings, we hypothesize that in less diverse areas, species are larger and likely more dispersive, leading to larger range sizes and less turnover between sites.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…Studies have shown that, in ectotherms, body size and environmental temperature can directly affect both dispersal capacity (Luiz et al, ; O'Connor et al, ) and speciation rates, via effects on individual metabolic rates (Allen, Gillooly, Savage, & Brown, ). In fact, models that combine thermal effects on speciation rates (Allen et al, ) with meta‐community dynamics can reproduce realistic latitudinal diversity gradients currently observed in the world's oceans (Tittensor & Worm, ; Worm & Tittensor, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Body size, reef area and temperature predict global reef‐fish species richness across spatial scales

Barneche

Rezende

Parravicini

et al. 2018

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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Aim To investigate biotic and abiotic correlates of reef‐fish species richness across multiple spatial scales. Location Tropical reefs around the globe, including 485 sites in 109 sub‐provinces spread across 14 biogeographic provinces. Time period Present. Major taxa studied 2,523 species of reef fish. Methods We compiled a database encompassing 13,050 visual transects. We used hierarchical linear Bayesian models to investigate whether fish body size, reef area, isolation, temperature, and anthropogenic impacts correlate with reef‐fish species richness at each spatial scale (i.e., sites, sub‐provinces, provinces). Richness was estimated using coverage‐based rarefaction. We also tested whether species packing (i.e., transect‐level species richness/m2) is correlated with province‐level richness. Results Body size had the strongest effect on species richness across all three spatial scales. Reef area and temperature were both positively correlated with richness at all spatial scales. At the site scale only, richness decreased with reef isolation. Species richness was not correlated with proxies of human impacts. Species packing was correlated with species richness at the province level following a sub‐linear power function. Province‐level differences in species richness were also mirrored by patterns of body size distribution at the site scale. Species‐rich provinces exhibited heterogeneous assemblages of small‐bodied species with small range sizes, whereas species‐poor provinces encompassed homogeneous assemblages composed by larger species with greater dispersal capacity. Main conclusions Our findings suggest that body size distribution, reef area and temperature are major predictors of species richness and accumulation across scales, consistent with recent theories linking home range to species–area relationships as well as metabolic effects on speciation rates. Based on our results, we hypothesize that in less diverse areas, species are larger and likely more dispersive, leading to larger range sizes and less turnover between sites. Our results indicate that changes in province‐level (i.e., regional) richness should leave a tractable fingerprint in local assemblages, and that detailed studies on local‐scale assemblage composition may be informative of responses occurring at larger scales.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Body size, reef area and temperature predict global reef‐fish species richness across spatial scales

Barneche

Rezende

Parravicini

et al. 2018

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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“…The regional and global gradients of species diversity—with richness in most taxon groups decreasing from lower to higher latitudes—are well known and the mechanisms behind this pattern are widely discussed (e.g. Gaston, ; Hawkins et al, ; Ronk, Szava‐Kovats, & Pärtel, ; Whittaker, Nogués‐Bravo, & Araújo, ; Worm & Tittensor, ). Contemporary climate regulates the availability of water and energy and is strongly associated with broad‐scale richness patterns (Hawkins et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of modern pollen and plant richness across northern Europe

et al. 2019

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Sedimentary pollen offers excellent opportunities to reconstruct vegetation changes over past millennia. Number of different pollen taxa or pollen richness is used to characterise past plant richness. To improve the interpretation of sedimentary pollen richness, it is essential to understand the relationship between pollen and plant richness in contemporary landscapes. This study presents a regional‐scale comparison of pollen and plant richness from northern Europe and evaluates the importance of environmental variables on pollen and plant richness. We use a pollen dataset of 511 lake‐surface pollen samples ranging through temperate, boreal and tundra biomes. To characterise plant diversity, we use a dataset formulated from the two largest plant atlases available in Europe. We compare pollen and plant richness estimates in different groups of taxa (wind‐pollinated vs. non‐wind‐pollinated, trees and shrubs vs. herbs and grasses) and test their relationships with climate and landscape variables. Pollen richness is significantly positively correlated with plant richness (r = 0.53). The pollen plant richness correlation improves (r = 0.63) when high pollen producers are downweighted prior to estimating richness minimising the influence of pollen production on the pollen richness estimate. This suggests that methods accommodating pollen‐production differences in richness estimates deserve further attention and should become more widely used in Quaternary pollen diversity studies. The highest correlations are found between pollen and plant richness of trees and shrubs (r = 0.83) and of wind‐pollinated taxa (r = 0.75) suggesting that these are the best measures of broad‐scale plant richness over several thousands of square kilometres. Mean annual temperature is the strongest predictor of both pollen and plant richness. Landscape openness is positively associated with pollen richness but not with plant richness. Pollen richness values from extremely open and/or cold areas where pollen production is low should be interpreted with caution because low local pollen production increases the proportion of extra‐regional pollen. Synthesis. Our results confirm that pollen data can provide insights into past plant richness changes in northern Europe, and with careful consideration of pollen‐production differences and spatial scale represented, pollen data make it possible to investigate vegetation diversity trends over long time‐scales and under changing climatic and habitat conditions.

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“…Tittensor and Worm () and Worm and Tittensor () used a neutral model to simulate species richness in the oceans and allowed speciation rate and generation time to depend on temperature. Thermal effects on speciation rate generated a stable but weak latitudinal richness gradient in their model, while thermal effects on generation time produced a transient latitudinal richness gradient that eventually disappeared.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both theories explain the present difference in species richness among fish communities from individual density or abundance, and from fundamental evolutionary processes such as speciation, dispersal, and extinction. Recently, they have been combined and used to simulate the latitudinal gradient in species richness in the oceans (Tittensor & Worm, ; Worm & Tittensor, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Species richness in North Atlantic fish: Process concealed by pattern

Gislason

Collie

MacKenzie

et al. 2020

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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Aim Previous analyses of marine fish species richness based on presence‐absence data have shown changes with latitude and average species size, but little is known about the underlying processes. To elucidate these processes we use metabolic, neutral and descriptive statistical models to analyse how richness responds to maximum species length, fish abundance, temperature, primary production, depth, latitude and longitude, while accounting for differences in species catchability, sampling effort and mesh size. Data Results from 53,382 bottom trawl hauls representing 50 fish assemblages. Location The northern Atlantic from Nova Scotia to Guinea. Time period 1977–2013. Methods A descriptive generalized additive model was used to identify functional relationships between species richness and potential drivers, after which nonlinear estimation techniques were used to parameterize: (a) a ‘best’ fitting model of species richness built on the functional relationships, (b) an environmental model based on latitude, longitude and depth, and mechanistic models based on (c) metabolic and (d) neutral theory. Results In the ‘best’ model the number of species observed is a lognormal function of maximum species length. It increases significantly with temperature, primary production, sampling effort, and abundance, and declines with depth and, for small species, with the mesh size in the trawl. The ‘best’ model explains close to 90% of the deviance and the neutral, metabolic and environmental models 89%. In all four models, maximum species length and either temperature or latitude account for more than half of the deviance explained. Main conclusions The two mechanistic models explain the patterns in demersal fish species richness in the northern Atlantic almost equally well. A better understanding of the underlying drivers is likely to require development of dynamic mechanistic models of richness and size evolution, fit not only to extant distributions, but also to historical environmental conditions and to past speciation and extinction rates.

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A Theory of Global Biodiversity (MPB-60)

Cited by 44 publications

References 0 publications

Body size, reef area and temperature predict global reef‐fish species richness across spatial scales

Body size, reef area and temperature predict global reef‐fish species richness across spatial scales

Patterns of modern pollen and plant richness across northern Europe

Species richness in North Atlantic fish: Process concealed by pattern

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