To a first approximation, the distribution of biodiversity across the Earth can be described in
terms of a relatively small number of broad-scale spatial patterns. Although these patterns …

Despite two centuries of exploration, our understanding of factors determining the
distribution of life on Earth is in many ways still in its infancy. Much of the disagreement …

The decline of biodiversity with latitude has received great attention, but both the concise
pattern and the causes of the gradient are under strong debate. Most studies of the …

Aim Current weaknesses of diversity theory include: a failure to distinguish different
biogeographical response variables under the general heading of diversity; and a general …

Geographic patterns of species richness are influenced by many factors, but the role of
shared physiographical and physiological boundaries in relation to range-size distributions …

▪ Abstract Recent overviews have suggested that the relationship between species richness
and productivity (rate of conversion of resources to biomass per unit area per unit time) is …

The search for a common cause of species richness gradients has spawned more than 100
explanatory hypotheses in just the past two decades. Despite recent conceptual advances …

Controversy remains over what drives patterns in the variation of biodiversity across the
planet. The resolution is obscured by lack of data and mismatches in their spatial grain …

Patterns of point, α-, and β-diversity, and of an index of range size were studied for
Acanthaceae, Araceae, Bromeliaceae, Melastomataceae, Palmae, and Pteridophyta in 204 …

ABSTRACT A key issue in ecology is how patterns of species diversity differ as a function of
scale. The scaling function is the species–area curve. The form of the species–area curve …