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Title: Mutualisms weaken the latitudinal diversity gradient among oceanic islands
Abstract

The latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) dominates global patterns of diversity1,2, but the factors that underlie the LDG remain elusive. Here we use a unique global dataset3to show that vascular plants on oceanic islands exhibit a weakened LDG and explore potential mechanisms for this effect. Our results show that traditional physical drivers of island biogeography4—namely area and isolation—contribute to the difference between island and mainland diversity at a given latitude (that is, the island species deficit), as smaller and more distant islands experience reduced colonization. However, plant species with mutualists are underrepresented on islands, and we find that this plant mutualism filter explains more variation in the island species deficit than abiotic factors. In particular, plant species that require animal pollinators or microbial mutualists such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi contribute disproportionately to the island species deficit near the Equator, with contributions decreasing with distance from the Equator. Plant mutualist filters on species richness are particularly strong at low absolute latitudes where mainland richness is highest, weakening the LDG of oceanic islands. These results provide empirical evidence that mutualisms, habitat heterogeneity and dispersal are key to the maintenance of high tropical plant diversity and mediate the biogeographic patterns of plant diversity on Earth.

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Award ID(s):
2027458
NSF-PAR ID:
10515044
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Nature
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Nature
Volume:
627
Issue:
8003
ISSN:
0028-0836
Page Range / eLocation ID:
335 to 339
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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