ENERGY AND LARGE-SCALE PATTERNS OF ANIMAL-SPECIES AND PLANT-SPECIES RICHNESS
ENERGY AND LARGE-SCALE PATTERNS OF ANIMAL-SPECIES AND PLANT-SPECIES RICHNESS
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DOI：
10.1086/285144
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发表时间：
1991-01-01
影响因子：
2.9
通讯作者：
CURRIE, DJ
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
CURRIE, DJ
人们提出了许多假说来解释不同地区物种丰富度的巨大差异。研究人员首先在北美336个样方中对鸟类、哺乳动物、两栖动物和爬行动物的物种丰富度模式进行了研究。然后将这些模式与假设提出的21个环境描述符的区域变化进行比较。我发现，在所研究的四个脊椎动物类别中，物种丰富度的80%-93%的变异可以用一个单一变量的单调递增函数来统计解释：年潜在蒸散量（PET）。相比之下，树木丰富度与实际蒸散发（AET）关系更密切。AET和PET似乎都是可用环境能源的衡量标准。树木和脊椎动物丰富度之间的关系非常差。脊椎动物特定目和科的物种丰富度也与PET密切相关，但并不总是单调的，通常类似于沿环境梯度的替换序列。本研究结果与环境可利用能量限制区域物种丰富度的假设一致。然而，我的观察结果与早期的物种能量理论并不完全一致。能量丰富度关系表现为依赖于尺度，受面积和面能量通量变化的影响不同。
Many hypotheses have been proposed to explain the great variation among regions in species richness. These were tested by first examining patterns of species richness of birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles in 336 quadrats covering North America. These patterns were then compared with the regional variation of 21 descriptors of the environment suggested by the hypotheses. I found that, in the four vertebrate classes studied, 80%-93% of the variability in species richness could be statistically explained by a monotonically increasing function of a single variable: annual potential evapotranspiration (PET). In contrast, tree richness is more closely related to actual evapotranspiration (AET). Both AET and PET appear to be measures of available environmental energy. The relationships between tree and vertebrate richness are strikingly poor. Species richness in particular orders and families of the Vertebrata is also closely related to PET, but not always monotonically, often resembling a replacement series along an environmental gradient. The present results are consistent with the hypothesis that environmentally available energy limits regional species richness. However, my observations are not completely consistent with earlier species-energy theory. The energy-richness relationship appears to depend on scale, and it is affected differently by variations in area and in areal energy flux.