Perspective: Causes and consequences of range size variation: the influence of traits, speciation, and extinction

Steven M Vamosi,Jana C Vamosi

doi:10.21425/f54413024

Abstract

The tremendous variation in species richness observed among related clades across the tree of life has long caught the imagination of biologists. Recently, there has been growing attention paid to the possible contribution of range size variation, either alone or in combination with putative key innovations, to these patterns. Here, we review three related topics relevant to range size evolution, speciation, and extinction. First, we provide a brief overview of the debate surrounding patterns and mechanisms for phylogenetic signal in range size. Second, we discuss some recent findings regarding the joint influence of traits and range size on diversification. Finally, we present the preliminary results of a study investigating whether range size is negatively correlated with contemporary extinction risk in flowering plants.

Highlights

The tremendous variation in species richness among clades has produced widespread support for species selection i.e., the idea that traits influence speciation and/or extinction rates (Heard and Hauser 1995)
The low explanatory power of the majority of putative key innovations in determining tree imbalance has led some researchers to posit that much evolutionary success of any given lineage lies with idiosyncratic events early in its history (Ricklefs 2003), such as the appearance of a land bridge or uplift of a mountain range (Hughes and Eastwood 2006). One such critical extrinsic determinant of evolutionary success that could be especially important is an early rise in geographical extent i.e., the amount of space occupied by a family (Ricklefs 2003, Davies et al 2004, Jansson and Davies 2008)
We discuss some of the literature relevant to whether there is a phylogenetic signal in the range size of closely related species

Summary

Introduction

The tremendous variation in species richness among clades has produced widespread support for species selection i.e., the idea that traits influence speciation and/or extinction rates (Heard and Hauser 1995). We present the results of a preliminary study investigating the potential benefits of family range size on contemporary extinction risk in flowering plant species.

Results

Conclusion