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Science 15 February 2008:
Vol. 319. no. 5865, p. 901
DOI: 10.1126/science.1150828
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Technical Comments

Response to Comment on "The Latitudinal Gradient in Recent Speciation and Extinction Rates of Birds and Mammals"

J. T. Weir1,2* and D. Schluter2

Tobias et al. suggest that taxonomic uncertainty, an underestimated correction for the lag-time to speciation, and the sister-species method undermine our estimates of speciation rates at tropical latitudes. However, our estimates incorporated a correction for taxonomic uncertainty and are robust to small increases in the lag-time correction. Contrary to the claim of Tobias et al., we find no indication that the sister-species method underestimates tropical diversification rates.

1 Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
2 Department of Zoology, and Center for Biodiversity Research, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jtweir{at}uchicago.edu

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