Dataset Information

Climatic stability drives latitudinal trends in range size and richness of woody plants in the Western Ghats, India.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the determinants of range location and size is fundamental to our understanding of spatial patterns in species richness. Here, we aimed to test the role of 'climatic stability' in determining latitudinal trends in range size and as a consequence on species richness of tropical woody plants. Using primary data from 156 (0.06 ha) plots comprising 20,400 occurrences of more than 400 species of tropical woody plants, we built a biome-wide species database that covers the entire latitudinal extent of the wet-evergreen forests of the Western Ghats (8o to 20o N), India. We consolidated this database using secondary data from other published species inventories. We then calculated the range sizes and climatic niche width of woody plants to test the predictions of the climatic stability hypothesis and examined the relationship between range position and climatic tolerance of species. Our results show a significant latitudinal gradient in species richness and turnover where local and regional species richness increase monotonically from higher latitudes to lower latitudes of the Western Ghats. We found strong support for Rapoport's Rule with an increase in range size from lower to higher latitudes; our results are consistent with the predictions of the climatic stability hypothesis, where species at higher latitudes exhibited greater tolerance to temperature and rainfall seasonality. Contrary to earlier work, our findings suggest that Rapoport's Rule and the climatic stability hypothesis can operate over regional scales, and even at lower latitudes. We suggest that latitude associated climatic seasonality through its influence on species ranges, can influence latitudinal patterns in species turnover as well as species richness.

SUBMITTER: Page NV

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7365598 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Climatic stability drives latitudinal trends in range size and richness of woody plants in the Western Ghats, India.

Page Navendu V NV Shanker Kartik K

PloS one 20200716 7

Understanding the determinants of range location and size is fundamental to our understanding of spatial patterns in species richness. Here, we aimed to test the role of 'climatic stability' in determining latitudinal trends in range size and as a consequence on species richness of tropical woody plants. Using primary data from 156 (0.06 ha) plots comprising 20,400 occurrences of more than 400 species of tropical woody plants, we built a biome-wide species database that covers the entire latitud ...[more]

PMID: 32673330

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Project description:Kyasanur forest disease virus (KFDV) is a rapidly expanding tick-borne zoonotic virus with natural foci in the forested region of the Western Ghats of South India. The Western Ghats is one of the world's most important biodiversity hotspots and, like many such areas of high biodiversity, is under significant pressure from anthropogenic landscape change. The current study sought to quantify mammalian species richness using ensemble models of the distributions of a sample of species extant in the Western Ghats and to explore its association with KFDV outbreaks, as well as the modifying effects of deforestation on this association. Species richness was quantified as a composite of individual species' distributions, as derived from ensembles of boosted regression tree, random forest, and generalised additive models. Species richness was further adjusted for the potential biotic constraints of sympatric species. Both species richness and forest loss demonstrated strong positive associations with KFDV outbreaks, however forest loss substantially modified the association between species richness and outbreaks. High species richness was associated with increased KFDV risk but only in areas of low forest loss. In contrast, lower species richness was associated with increased KFDV risk in areas of greater forest loss. This relationship persisted when species richness was adjusted for biotic constraints at the taluk-level. In addition, the taluk-level species abundances of three monkey species (Macaca radiata, Semnopithecus hypoleucus, and Semnopithecus priam) were also associated with outbreaks. These results suggest that increased monitoring of wildlife in areas of significant habitat fragmentation may add considerably to critical knowledge gaps in KFDV epidemiology and infection ecology and should be incorporated into novel One Health surveillance development for the region. In addition, the inclusion of some primate species as sentinels of KFDV circulation into general wildlife surveillance architecture may add further value.

Dataset Information

Climatic stability drives latitudinal trends in range size and richness of woody plants in the Western Ghats, India.

Publications

Climatic stability drives latitudinal trends in range size and richness of woody plants in the Western Ghats, India.

Similar Datasets

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