The evolution of climatic niche breadth in terrestrial vertebrates

Abstract

Interspecific variation in climatic niche breadth underlies many ecological phenomena, yet only recently have studies-focused explicitly on the evolution of climatic niche breadth. Here, we integrate data on geographical distributions, bioclimatic variables, and phylogenetic relationships of 18,404 terrestrial vertebrate species to investigate the evolution of climatic niche breadth. We demonstrate that the evolutionary rates of upper and lower climatic niche boundaries are largely uncoupled. For instance, the rate of evolution of low temperature limits was nearly twice that of high-temperature limits, whereas low- and high-precipitation limits remained relatively constant despite a considerable variation in average precipitation. These results suggest that the evolution of climatic niche breadth is fundamentally different between axes. Finally, we found no relationship between climatic niche breadth and speciation rates. The consistency of these patterns across taxa suggests that they represent general principles governing the evolution of climatic niche breadth. A variação interespecífica na amplitude do nicho climático depende de muitos fenômenos ecológicos, embora apenas recentemente estudos tenham focado explicitamente na evolução da amplitude de nicho climático. Aqui, integramos dados de distribuições geográficas, variáveis bioclimáticas e relações filogenéticas de 18,404 espécies de vertebrados terrestres para investigar a evolução da amplitude de nicho climático. Demonstramos que as taxas evolutivas dos limites superiores e inferiores de nicho climático são amplamente desacoplados. Por exemplo, a taxa de evolução dos limites de baixa temperatura foi quase o dobro dos limites de alta temperatura, enquanto os limites de baixa e alta precipitação permaneceram relativamente constantes, apesar de uma variação considerável na precipitação média. Esses resultados sugerem que a evolução da amplitude de nicho climático é fundamentalmente diferente entre os eixos. Por fim, não encontramos nenhuma relação entre a amplitude de nicho climático e as taxas de especiação. A consistência desses padrões entre os táxons sugere que eles representam princípios gerais que guiam a evolução da amplitude de nicho climático. Table S1. Mean bioclimatic variables across the range of each species of the studied clades. Table S2. Linear models of the relationship between niche breadth and their axes. Table S3. Relationship between climatic niche variables and their breadths based on phylogenetic independent contrasts. Table S4. Rates of evolution of average bioclimatic conditions across the range of species in each taxon. Table S5. Tests of correlates of speciation rates in the studied taxa using ES-sim. Figure S1. Rates of evolution of the mean bioclimatic variables for each of the studied lineages. Figure S2. Correlation coefficients (rho) of the relationship between speciation rates in the studied taxa using ES-sim. Script S1. Code for test trait-dependent diversification using tip rate correlation (TRC). Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.