Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Invitrogen

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 20 August 1999:
Vol. 285. no. 5431, pp. 1265 - 1267
DOI: 10.1126/science.285.5431.1265

Reports

Conservatism of Ecological Niches in Evolutionary Time

A. T. Peterson, 1* J. Soberón, 2 V. Sánchez-Cordero 3

Theory predicts low niche differentiation between species over evolutionary time scales, but little empirical evidence is available. Reciprocal geographic predictions based on ecological niche models of sister taxon pairs of birds, mammals, and butterflies in southern Mexico indicate niche conservatism over several million years of independent evolution (between putative sister taxon pairs) but little conservatism at the level of families. Niche conservatism over such time scales indicates that speciation takes place in geographic, not ecological, dimensions and that ecological differences evolve later.

1 Natural History Museum, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA.
2 Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, D.F. 04510, México.
3 Departamento de Zoología, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, D.F. 04510, México.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: town{at}ukans.edu


Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Colloquium Paper: A phylogenetic perspective on the distribution of plant diversity.
M. J. Donoghue (2008)
PNAS 105, 11549-11555
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A Significant Upward Shift in Plant Species Optimum Elevation During the 20th Century.
J. Lenoir, J. C. Gegout, P. A. Marquet, P. de Ruffray, and H. Brisse (2008)
Science 320, 1768-1771
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Influence of Phylogeny on Fungal Community Assembly and Ecosystem Functioning.
H. Maherali and J. N. Klironomos (2007)
Science 316, 1746-1748
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Using a theoretical ecospace to quantify the ecological diversity of Paleozoic and modern marine biotas.
P. M. Novack-Gottshall (2007)
Paleobiology 33, 273-294
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
GIS-based characterization of the geographic distributions of wild and cultivated populations of the Mesoamerican fruit tree Spondias purpurea (Anacardiaceae).
A. J. Miller and J. H. Knouft (2006)
Am. J. Botany 93, 1757-1767
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
GEOGRAPHIC POTENTIAL FOR OUTBREAKS OF MARBURG HEMORRHAGIC FEVER..
A. T. PETERSON, R. R. LASH, D. S. CARROLL, and K. M. JOHNSON (2006)
Am J Trop Med Hyg 75, 9-15
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Climate change threats to plant diversity in Europe.
W. Thuiller, S. Lavorel, M. B. Araujo, M. T. Sykes, and I. C. Prentice (2005)
PNAS 102, 8245-8250
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Modeling current and future potential wintering distributions of eastern North American monarch butterflies.
K. Oberhauser and A. T. Peterson (2003)
PNAS 100, 14063-14068
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Correlated evolution of chloroplast heat shock protein expression in closely related plant species.
C. A. Knight and D. D. Ackerly (2001)
Am. J. Botany 88, 411-418
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Remarkable species diversity in Malagasy mouse lemurs (primates, Microcebus).
A. D. Yoder, R. M. Rasoloarison, S. M. Goodman, J. A. Irwin, S. Atsalis, M. J. Ravosa, and J. U. Ganzhorn (2000)
PNAS
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Timing the Radiations of Leaf Beetles: Hispines on Gingers from Latest Cretaceous to Recent.
P. Wilf, C. C. Labandeira, W. J. Kress, C. L. Staines, D. M. Windsor, A. L. Allen, and K. R. Johnson (2000)
Science 289, 291-294
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Museum specimen data predict crop damage by tropical rodents.
V. Sánchez-Cordero and E. Martínez-Meyer (2000)
PNAS
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Museum specimen data predict crop damage by tropical rodents.
V. Sanchez-Cordero and E. Martinez-Meyer (2000)
PNAS 97, 7074-7077
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Remarkable species diversity in Malagasy mouse lemurs (primates, Microcebus).
A. D. Yoder, R. M. Rasoloarison, S. M. Goodman, J. A. Irwin, S. Atsalis, M. J. Ravosa, and J. U. Ganzhorn (2000)
PNAS 97, 11325-11330
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »



ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products


Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)