Biodiversity and Topographic Complexity: Modern and Geohistorical Perspectives

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2017

Publication Title

Trends in Ecology and Evolution

Publisher

Elsevier Ltd

Volume

32

Issue

3

First page number:

211

Last page number:

226

Abstract

Topographically complex regions on land and in the oceans feature hotspots of biodiversity that reflect geological influences on ecological and evolutionary processes. Over geologic time, topographic diversity gradients wax and wane over millions of years, tracking tectonic or climatic history. Topographic diversity gradients from the present day and the past can result from the generation of species by vicariance or from the accumulation of species from dispersal into a region with strong environmental gradients. Biological and geological approaches must be integrated to test alternative models of diversification along topographic gradients. Reciprocal illumination among phylogenetic, phylogeographic, ecological, paleontological, tectonic, and climatic perspectives is an emerging frontier of biogeographic research. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd

Language

english

UNLV article access

Share

COinS