Biodiversity on Global Scales A. Townsend Peterson

Conservation International Hotspots

Considerations “Endemism” Diversity versus endemism –Different patterns across geography

Global Tendencies High diversity at low latitudes, low diversity at high latitudes –Amazon versus Siberia High endemism in situations and regions of high subdivision and segregation of areas –Islands, mountains, restricted habitats Variation among continents, among major taxa, etc.

Null Hypotheses vs Full Understanding Null hypotheses –Mid-domain effect –Neutral theory

Null Hypotheses vs Full Understanding Energy, time, space, nutrients … simulated by climate, topography, soils, etc. Rivers, mountains, deserts, forests, plains, arid zones, wet zones, Point of origin, areas of diversification, length of time in region Null hypotheses –Mid-domain effect –Neutral theory Full understanding –Ecology –Geography –History

This Course Methodology for objective analysis of biodiversity patterns Superadvantage of working species by species, rather than on aggregates Advantage of working based on relatively small amounts of easily available information Interfaces well with new, large-scale biodiversity information networks Useful additional tool to complement other approaches