The diversity of life is ultimately generated by evolution, and much attention has focused on
the rapid evolution of ecological traits. Yet, the tendency for many ecological traits to instead …

A latitudinal gradient in biodiversity has existed since before the time of the dinosaurs, yet
how and why this gradient arose remains unresolved. Here we review two major hypotheses …

One of the oldest challenges in ecology is to understand the processes that underpin the
composition of communities. Historically, an obvious way in which to describe community …

In this paper, I review the relevance of the niche to biogeography, and what biogeography
may tell us about the niche. The niche is defined as the combination of abiotic and biotic …

Many groups show higher species richness in tropical regions but the underlying causes
remain unclear. Despite many competing hypotheses to explain latitudinal diversity …

ABSTRACT A major goal of research in ecology and evolution is to explain why species
richness varies across habitats, regions, and clades. Recent reviews have argued that …

Biologists have long searched for mechanisms responsible for the increase in species
richness with decreasing latitude. The strong correlation between species richness and …

Aim Understanding the evolution of the latitudinal diversity gradient (ie increase in species
diversity towards the tropics) is a prominent issue in ecology and biogeography …

A central focus of ecology and biogeography is to determine the factors that govern spatial
variation in biodiversity. Here, we examined patterns of ant diversity along climatic gradients …

Evolutionary hypotheses to explain the greater numbers of species in the tropics than the
temperate zone include greater age and area, higher temperature and metabolic rates, and …