Abstract
news and update ISSN 1948‐6596 References Brown, J.H. (1995) Macroecology. Chicago University press, Chicago. Cardillo, M. (2011) Phylogenetic structure of mammal assemblages at large geographic scales: linking phylogenetic community ecology with mac‐ roecology. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, (in press). Colwell, R.K. and T.F. Rangel (2010) A stochastic, evolu‐ tionary model for range shifts and richness on tropical elevational gradients under Quaternary glacial cycles. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 365, 3695–3707. Gaston, K.J. & Blackburn, T.M. (2000) Pattern and proc‐ ess in macroecology. Blackwell, London. Griffith D.A. & Peres‐Neto, P.R. (2006) Spatial modeling in ecology: the flexibility of eigenfunction spatial analysis. Ecology, 87, 2603‐2613. Losos, J.B. (2011) Seing the forest for the trees: the limitations of phylogenies in comparative biol‐ ogy. American Naturalist, 177, 709‐727. Olalla‐Tarraga, M.A., McInnes, L., Bini, L.M., Diniz‐Filho, J.A.F., Fritz, S.A., Hawkins, B.A., Hortal, J., Orme, C.D.L., Rahbek, C., Rodriguez, M.A. & Purvis, A. (in press) Climatic niche conservatism and the evolutionary dynamics in species’ range bounda‐ ries: global congruence across mammals and amphibians. Journal of Biogeography. Phillimore, A.B., Hadfield, J.D., Jones, O.R. & Smithers, R.J. (2010) Differences in spawning date be‐ tween populations of common frog reveal local adaptation. Proceedings of the National Acad‐ emy of Sciences of the USA, 107, 8292‐8297. Ree, R.H. & Sanmartin, I. (2009) Prospects and chal‐ lenges for parametric models in historical bio‐ geographical inference. Journal of Biogeogra‐ phy, 36, 1211‐1220. Edited by Joaquin Hortal symposium summary Marine biogeography A contributed session at the 5th International Biogeography Society Conference – Heraklion, Greece, 7–11 January 2011 How does life in the sea compare or contrast with life in or above its land, lakes, rivers, and streams? By asking questions about geographic patterns of marine speciation (Renema, Tellier et al., Tyberg‐ hein et al.), how well landscape metrics describe saltwater systems (Wedding et al.), and how pat‐ terns of human use impact the marine biota (Davidson et al., Tittensor and Worm), one might begin to intuit some answers. Willem Renema’s study of the distinctive Cycloclypeus, the largest living benthic foraminif‐ era (10‐12 cm diameter), which occupies a very well characterized niche on tropical coral reefs, provides a well‐constrained fossil series, of a qual‐ ity rare in any realm, for examining patterns and rates of speciation. He found that long‐distance dispersal events from the Indo‐West Pacific culmi‐ nate in extinction in the Mediterranean, and that morphological disparity increases regionally but not globally during the Middle Miocene following range contraction and re‐expansion. The region of speciation may vary among taxa, even if speci‐ ation is contemporaneous. These results suggest patterns of marine species diversity can be influ‐ enced by local ‘species pumps’ (that is, vacuum pumps drawing species in, rather than pressure pumps pushing species outward) causing regional dispersal and diversification, and that evolution‐ ary ecological dynamics of at least some taxa may play out as a series of taxon cycles. Florence Tellier and colleagues also found evidence of geographically variable evolutionary dynamics along the intertidal rocky shore of the southeastern Pacific. Their comparative phy‐ logeographic study of two low‐dispersal co‐ distributed species, an isopod (Excirolana hirsuti‐ cauda) and a kelp (Lessonia nigrescens), revealed genetic discontinuities in both taxa at 30 o S, with sub‐groups—possibly cryptic species—of one or the other species either side of this well‐known biogeographic filter. Their inference is that con‐ cordant phylogeographic patterns may arise from significant environmental factors such as vicari‐ ance mediated by oceanography. Yet, secondary discontinuities that are geographically incongru‐ ent exist in these taxa: at 27°S for the kelp and 33° S for the isopod. Transplant and laboratory experi‐ ments with the kelp suggested at least some of frontiers of biogeography 3.1, 2011 — © 2011 the authors; journal compilation © 2011 The International Biogeography Society
Highlights
Willem Renema’s study of the distinctive Cycloclypeus, the largest living benthic foraminif‐ era (10‐12 cm diameter), which occupies a very well characterized niche on tropical coral reefs, provides a well‐constrained fossil series, of a qual‐ ity rare in any realm, for examining patterns and rates of speciation. He found that long‐distance dispersal events from the Indo‐West Pacific culmi‐ nate in extinction in the Mediterranean, and that morphological disparity increases regionally but not globally during the Middle Miocene following range contraction and re‐expansion
The region of speciation may vary among taxa, even if speci‐ ation is contemporaneous. These results suggest patterns of marine species diversity can be influ‐
The rugosity of coral reefs, as measured by the finest resolution possible with Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) is propor‐ tional to rugosity measured by experienced divers
Summary
A contributed session at the 5th International Biogeography Society Conference – Heraklion, Greece, 7–11 January 2011. Willem Renema’s study of the distinctive Cycloclypeus, the largest living benthic foraminif‐ era (10‐12 cm diameter), which occupies a very well characterized niche on tropical coral reefs, provides a well‐constrained fossil series, of a qual‐ ity rare in any realm, for examining patterns and rates of speciation He found that long‐distance dispersal events from the Indo‐West Pacific culmi‐ nate in extinction in the Mediterranean, and that morphological disparity increases regionally but not globally during the Middle Miocene following range contraction and re‐expansion. By stitching together several such datasets, and after correcting for variability in the data such as geographically un‐ evenly distributed effort, Tittensor and Worm were able to detect changes in range They found generally similar patterns across the Atlantic, In‐ dian, and Pacific oceans, showing an apparent ef‐ fect of life‐history. While in many ways we are beginning to see parallels between marine and terrestrial systems, it would be heartening to see a difference in this respect
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