Regularities in species’ niches reveal the world’s climate regions
Climate regions form the basis of many ecological, evolutionary, and conservation studies. However, our understanding of climate regions is limited to how they shape vegetation: they do not account for the distribution of animals. Here, we develop a network-based framework to identify important clim...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2021-02-01
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| Series: | eLife |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/58397 |
| _version_ | 1818019341448249344 |
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| author | Joaquín Calatayud Magnus Neuman Alexis Rojas Anton Eriksson Martin Rosvall |
| author_facet | Joaquín Calatayud Magnus Neuman Alexis Rojas Anton Eriksson Martin Rosvall |
| author_sort | Joaquín Calatayud |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Climate regions form the basis of many ecological, evolutionary, and conservation studies. However, our understanding of climate regions is limited to how they shape vegetation: they do not account for the distribution of animals. Here, we develop a network-based framework to identify important climates worldwide based on regularities in realized niches of about 26,000 tetrapods. We show that high-energy climates, including deserts, tropical savannas, and steppes, are consistent across animal- and plant-derived classifications, indicating similar underlying climatic determinants. Conversely, temperate climates differ across all groups, suggesting that these climates allow for idiosyncratic adaptations. Finally, we show how the integration of niche classifications with geographical information enables the detection of climatic transition zones and the signal of geographic and historical processes. Our results identify the climates shaping the distribution of tetrapods and call for caution when using general climate classifications to study the ecology, evolution, or conservation of specific taxa. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-14T07:51:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a4482f5a9f4a49ccbfde1630c966194a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T07:51:00Z |
| publishDate | 2021-02-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj.art-a4482f5a9f4a49ccbfde1630c966194a2022-12-22T02:05:12ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2021-02-011010.7554/eLife.58397Regularities in species’ niches reveal the world’s climate regionsJoaquín Calatayud0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9056-4149Magnus Neuman1Alexis Rojas2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1063-9102Anton Eriksson3Martin Rosvall4Integrated Science Lab, Department of Physics, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden; Departamento de Biología, Geología, Física y Química inorgánica, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, SpainIntegrated Science Lab, Department of Physics, Umeå University, Umeå, SwedenIntegrated Science Lab, Department of Physics, Umeå University, Umeå, SwedenIntegrated Science Lab, Department of Physics, Umeå University, Umeå, SwedenIntegrated Science Lab, Department of Physics, Umeå University, Umeå, SwedenClimate regions form the basis of many ecological, evolutionary, and conservation studies. However, our understanding of climate regions is limited to how they shape vegetation: they do not account for the distribution of animals. Here, we develop a network-based framework to identify important climates worldwide based on regularities in realized niches of about 26,000 tetrapods. We show that high-energy climates, including deserts, tropical savannas, and steppes, are consistent across animal- and plant-derived classifications, indicating similar underlying climatic determinants. Conversely, temperate climates differ across all groups, suggesting that these climates allow for idiosyncratic adaptations. Finally, we show how the integration of niche classifications with geographical information enables the detection of climatic transition zones and the signal of geographic and historical processes. Our results identify the climates shaping the distribution of tetrapods and call for caution when using general climate classifications to study the ecology, evolution, or conservation of specific taxa.https://elifesciences.org/articles/58397climate classificationvertebratesclimate zonesgeographic signal |
| spellingShingle | Joaquín Calatayud Magnus Neuman Alexis Rojas Anton Eriksson Martin Rosvall Regularities in species’ niches reveal the world’s climate regions eLife climate classification vertebrates climate zones geographic signal |
| title | Regularities in species’ niches reveal the world’s climate regions |
| title_full | Regularities in species’ niches reveal the world’s climate regions |
| title_fullStr | Regularities in species’ niches reveal the world’s climate regions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Regularities in species’ niches reveal the world’s climate regions |
| title_short | Regularities in species’ niches reveal the world’s climate regions |
| title_sort | regularities in species niches reveal the world s climate regions |
| topic | climate classification vertebrates climate zones geographic signal |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/58397 |
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