Predictors of elevational biodiversity gradients change from single taxa to the multi-taxa community level

Marcell K. Peters (), Andreas Hemp, Tim Appelhans, Christina Behler, Alice Classen, Florian Detsch, Andreas Ensslin, Stefan W. Ferger, Sara B. Frederiksen, Friederike Gebert, Michael Haas, Maria Helbig-Bonitz, Claudia Hemp, William J. Kindeketa, Ephraim Mwangomo, Christine Ngereza, Insa Otte, Juliane Röder, Gemma Rutten, David Schellenberger Costa, Joseph Tardanico, Giulia Zancolli, Jürgen Deckert, Connal D. Eardley, Ralph S. Peters, Mark-Oliver Rödel, Matthias Schleuning, Axel Ssymank, Victor Kakengi, Jie Zhang, Katrin Böhning-Gaese, Roland Brandl, Elisabeth K.V. Kalko, Michael Kleyer, Thomas Nauss, Marco Tschapka, Markus Fischer and Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter
Additional contact information
Marcell K. Peters: Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland
Andreas Hemp: University of Bayreuth
Tim Appelhans: Environmental Informatics, Faculty of Geography, University of Marburg
Christina Behler: Institute for Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics, University of Ulm
Alice Classen: Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland
Florian Detsch: Environmental Informatics, Faculty of Geography, University of Marburg
Andreas Ensslin: Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern
Stefan W. Ferger: Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F)
Sara B. Frederiksen: Animal Ecology, University of Marburg
Friederike Gebert: Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland
Michael Haas: Animal Ecology, University of Marburg
Maria Helbig-Bonitz: Institute for Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics, University of Ulm
Claudia Hemp: Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland
William J. Kindeketa: Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland
Ephraim Mwangomo: Environmental Informatics, Faculty of Geography, University of Marburg
Christine Ngereza: Animal Ecology, University of Marburg
Insa Otte: Environmental Informatics, Faculty of Geography, University of Marburg
Juliane Röder: Animal Ecology, University of Marburg
Gemma Rutten: Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern
David Schellenberger Costa: Landscape Ecology Group, Institute of Biology and Environmental Sciences, University Oldenburg
Joseph Tardanico: Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland
Giulia Zancolli: Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland
Jürgen Deckert: Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science
Connal D. Eardley: Agricultural Research Council—Plant Protection Research: Plant Health and Protection
Ralph S. Peters: Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig
Mark-Oliver Rödel: Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science
Matthias Schleuning: Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F)
Axel Ssymank: Falkenweg 6
Victor Kakengi: Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute
Jie Zhang: Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland
Katrin Böhning-Gaese: Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F)
Roland Brandl: Animal Ecology, University of Marburg
Elisabeth K.V. Kalko: Institute for Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics, University of Ulm
Michael Kleyer: Landscape Ecology Group, Institute of Biology and Environmental Sciences, University Oldenburg
Thomas Nauss: Environmental Informatics, Faculty of Geography, University of Marburg
Marco Tschapka: Institute for Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics, University of Ulm
Markus Fischer: Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern
Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter: Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract The factors determining gradients of biodiversity are a fundamental yet unresolved topic in ecology. While diversity gradients have been analysed for numerous single taxa, progress towards general explanatory models has been hampered by limitations in the phylogenetic coverage of past studies. By parallel sampling of 25 major plant and animal taxa along a 3.7 km elevational gradient on Mt. Kilimanjaro, we quantify cross-taxon consensus in diversity gradients and evaluate predictors of diversity from single taxa to a multi-taxa community level. While single taxa show complex distribution patterns and respond to different environmental factors, scaling up diversity to the community level leads to an unambiguous support for temperature as the main predictor of species richness in both plants and animals. Our findings illuminate the influence of taxonomic coverage for models of diversity gradients and point to the importance of temperature for diversification and species coexistence in plant and animal communities.

Date: 2016
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms13736 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms13736

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13736

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().