The impact of population processes on patterns of species richness: Lessons from elevational gradients |
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| Authors: | Michael Kessler |
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| Institution: | 1. Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad Simon Bolivar, 89000, Caracas 1081-A, Venezuela;2. ISTerre, Université de Savoie, CNRS, F-73376 Le Bourget du Lac, France;3. Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra – Fundacion Venezolana de Investigaciones Sismologicas, Caracas, Venezuela;4. Escuela de Geología, Minas y Geofísica, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela;5. Fundacion Instituto de Ingenieria – CPDI, Sartenejas, Venezuela;6. ISTerre, Université de Grenoble 1, CNRS, F-38041 Grenoble, France;7. Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida, Venezuela;8. Instituto de Ciencias de La Tierra, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Venezuela;1. Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos (CIBIO), Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Portugal;2. Centro de Biologia Ambiental, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal;3. Institute of Botany, University of Basel, Switzerland;4. Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil;5. Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Rio Claro, Brazil;6. Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Switzerland;7. Institute of Earth Science, University of Lausanne, Switzerland;1. Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Matão, Travessa 14, Cidade Universitária, São Paulo, SP, 05508-090, Brazil;2. Laboratório de Ecologia da Paisagem, WWF-Brasil, SHIS QL 6/8, Conjunto E, Lago Sul, Brasília, DF, 71620-430, Brazil |
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| Abstract: | In the last few years, considerable headway has been made towards understanding patterns of species richness along latitudinal and elevational gradients, mostly by focussing on the influences of surface area, climatic factors, evolutionary history, and stochastic processes. However, the potential impact of population-level processes in determining or modifying patterns of species richness has largely been neglected, partly due to the difficulty of gathering such data for numerous species along geographical or ecological gradients. Based on two empirical examples, I here show that dispersal and the resulting source-sink effects modify patterns of plant species richness along elevation gradients, and that the inclusion or exclusion of such sink populations alters the perception of the diversity patterns and hence our interpretation of them. I argue that population processes should be taken into account when studying patterns of species richness, especially at scales at which dispersal is common in the taxon under consideration. |
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