Latitudinal Gradients in Species Diversity: The Search for the Primary Cause

1992/12/01 by Klaus Rohde · 9 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Biology #Competition (biology) #Ecology #Environmental gradient #Geography #Habitat #Interspecific competition #Latitude #Marine and coastal plant biology #Mutualism (biology) #Niche #Plant Parasitism and Resistance #Plant and animal studies #Population #Predation #Spatial heterogeneity #Species diversity #Taxon

paper · doi:10.2307/3545569

openalex publication_date 1992/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06

Abstract

Hypotheses that attempt to explain latitudinal gradients in species diversity are reviewed. Some hypotheses are circular, i.e. they are based on the assumption that some taxa have greater diversity in the tropics. These include explanations assuming different degrees of competition, mutualism, predation, epiphyte load, epidemics, biotic spatial heterogeneity, host diversity, population size, niche width, population growth rate, environmental harshness, and patchiness at different latitudes

Citations

• Species-Energy Theory: An Extension of Species-Area Theory
• A General Hypothesis of Species Diversity
• Patterns of communities in the tropics
• On the Causes of Tropical Species Diversity: Niche Overlap
• Homage to Santa Rosalia or Why Are There So Many Kinds of Animals?
• The Paradox of the Plankton
• LATITUDINAL VARIATIONS IN ORGANIC DIVERSITY
• Does Solar Energy Control Organic Diversity? Butterflies, Moths and the British Climate

Cited by

• Global Biodiversity, Biochemical Kinetics, and the Energetic-Equivalence Rule
• Global monocot diversification: geography explains variation in species richness better than environment or biology
• The environmental control of plant species density on a Himalayan elevation gradient
• gen3sis: A general engine for eco-evolutionary simulations of the processes that shape Earth’s biodiversity
• Polychaete species diversity in the central Pacific abyss: local and regional patterns, and relationships with productivity
• Global and Regional Patterns in Riverine Fish Species Richness: A Review
• The life‐history basis of latitudinal diversity gradients: how do species traits vary from the poles to the equator?
• Diversity and Phylogeny of Actinomycetes of Arabian Sea Along the Gujarat Coast
• Metabolic theory of ecology [wikipedia]