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Topography, energy and the global distribution of bird species richness

Davies, Richard G., Orme, C. David L., Storch, David, Olson, Valerie A., Thomas, Gavin H., Ross, Simon G., Ding, Tzung-Su, Rasmussen, Pamela C., Bennett, Peter M., Owens, Ian P. F., and others. (2007) Topography, energy and the global distribution of bird species richness. Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences, 274 (1614). pp. 1189-1197. ISSN 0962-8452. (doi:10.1098/rspb.2006.0061) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:7509)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2006.0061

Abstract

A major goal of ecology is to determine the causes of the latitudinal gradient in global distribution of species richness. Current evidence points to either energy availability or habitat heterogeneity as the most likely environmental drivers in terrestrial systems, but their relative importance is controversial in the absence of analyses of global (rather than continental or regional) extent. Here we use data on the global distribution of extant continental and continental island bird species to test the explanatory power of energy availability and habitat heterogeneity while simultaneously addressing issues of spatial resolution, spatial autocorrelation, geometric constraints upon species' range dynamics, and the impact of human populations and historical glacial ice-cover. At the finest resolution (1 degrees), topographical variability and temperature are identified as the most important global predictors of avian species richness in multipredictor models. Topographical variability is most important in single-predictor models, followed by productive energy. Adjusting for null expectations based on geometric constraints on species richness improves overall model fit but has negligible impact on tests of environmental predictors. Conclusions concerning the relative importance of environmental predictors of species richness cannot be extrapolated from one biogeographic realm to others or the globe. Rather a global perspective confirms the primary importance of mountain ranges in high-energy areas.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1098/rspb.2006.0061
Additional information: ISI Document Delivery No.: 156CZ Times Cited: 8 Cited Reference Count: 54 Davies, Richard G. Orme, C. David L. Storch, David Olson, Valerie A. Thomas, Gavin H. Ross, Simon G. Ding, Tzung-Su Rasmussen, Pamela C. Bennett, Peter M. Owens, Ian P. F. Blackburn, Tim M. Gaston, Kevin J.
Uncontrolled keywords: geometric constraints global biodiversity habitat heterogeneity species richness species-energy theory topography
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences
G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation > DICE (Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology)
Depositing User: C.G.W.G. van-de-Benderskum
Date Deposited: 02 Jul 2008 09:41 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 09:45 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/7509 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Bennett, Peter M..

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