A unified framework for diversity gradients: The adaptive trait continuum
[Aim] Adaptive trait continua are axes of covariation observed in multivariate trait data for a given taxonomic group. These continua quantify and summarize life-history variation at the inter-specific level in multi-specific assemblages. Here we examine whether trait continua can provide a useful framework to link life-history variation with demographic and evolutionary processes in species richness gradients. Taking an altitudinal species richness gradient for Mediterranean butterflies as a study case, we examined a suite of traits (larval diet breadth, adult phenology, dispersal capacity and wing length) and species-specific habitat measures (temperature and aridity breadth). We tested whether traits and species-specific habitat measures tend to co-vary, whether they are phylogenetically conserved, and whether they are able to explain species distributions and spatial genetic variation in a large number of butterfly assemblages.
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | artículo biblioteca |
| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
2013-01
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| Subjects: | Diversification, FST, Generalist–specialist, Phenology, species richness gradients, Thermal biology, Dispersal, Diet breadth, Butterflies, Adaptive/functional trait, |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/111599 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000780 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002809 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100001388 |
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| Summary: | [Aim] Adaptive trait continua are axes of covariation observed in multivariate trait data for a given taxonomic group. These continua quantify and summarize life-history variation at the inter-specific level in multi-specific assemblages. Here we examine whether trait continua can provide a useful framework to link life-history variation with demographic and evolutionary processes in species richness gradients. Taking an altitudinal species richness gradient for Mediterranean butterflies as a study case, we examined a suite of traits (larval diet breadth, adult phenology, dispersal capacity and wing length) and species-specific habitat measures (temperature and aridity breadth). We tested whether traits and species-specific habitat measures tend to co-vary, whether they are phylogenetically conserved, and whether they are able to explain species distributions and spatial genetic variation in a large number of butterfly assemblages. |
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