Global patterns of geographic range size in birds

Orme, C. David L., Davies, Richard G. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0145-0818, Olson, Valerie A., Thomas, Gavin H., Ding, Tzung-Su, Rasmussen, Pamela C., Ridgely, Robert S., Stattersfield, Ali J., Bennett, Peter M., Owens, Ian P. F., Blackburn, Tim M. and Gaston, Kevin J. (2006) Global patterns of geographic range size in birds. PLoS Biology, 4 (7). ISSN 1544-9173

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Abstract

Large-scale patterns of spatial variation in species geographic range size are central to many fundamental questions in macroecology and conservation biology. However, the global nature of these patterns has remained contentious, since previous studies have been geographically restricted and/or based on small taxonomic groups. Here, using a database on the breeding distributions of birds, we report the first (to our knowledge) global maps of variation in species range sizes for an entire taxonomic class. We show that range area does not follow a simple latitudinal pattern. Instead, the smallest range areas are attained on islands, in mountainous areas, and largely in the southern hemisphere. In contrast, bird species richness peaks around the equator, and towards higher latitudes. Despite these profoundly different latitudinal patterns, spatially explicit models reveal a weak tendency for areas with high species richness to house species with significantly smaller median range area. Taken together, these results show that for birds many spatial patterns in range size described in geographically restricted analyses do not reflect global rules. It remains to be discovered whether global patterns in geographic range size are best interpreted in terms of geographical variation in species assemblage packing, or in the rates of speciation, extinction, and dispersal that ultimately underlie biodiversity.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2006 Orme et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Organisms and the Environment
Depositing User:	EPrints Services
Date Deposited:	01 Oct 2010 13:38
Last Modified:	16 May 2023 01:02
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/1454
DOI:	10.1371/journal.pbio.0040208

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