Dispersal is a major driver of the latitudinal diversity gradient of Carnivora

• Published in: Global Ecology and Biogeography
• Main Authors: Rolland, Jonathan, Condamine, Fabien L., Beeravolu Reddy, Champak, Jiguet, Frédéric, Morlon, Hélène
• Other Authors: Université de Lausanne = University of Lausanne (UNIL), Centre de Mathématiques Appliquées - Ecole Polytechnique (CMAP), École polytechnique (X)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre de Biologie pour la Gestion des Populations (UMR CBGP), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Centre international d'études supérieures en sciences agronomiques (Montpellier SupAgro)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD France-Sud )-Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier (Montpellier SupAgro), Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la COnservation (CESCO), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut de biologie de l'ENS Paris (IBENS), Département de Biologie - ENS Paris, École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Funding was provided by the Chaire ‘Modélisation Mathématique et Biodiversité’ of Véolia Environnement – Ecole Polytechnique – Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle – Fondation X to J.R., the ANR [e-mail] (2010-BLAN-1726-01) and a fellowship from the INRA (SPE department) to C.R.B., as well as the CNRS and ANR grant ECOEVOBIO-CHEX2011 awarded to H.M
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2015
• Subjects: Biogeographical history; dispersal-extinction-cladogenesis; diversification; out of the tropics; tropical niche conservatism; Carnivora origin; [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]; Bering Strait
• Online Access: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-02638668; https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12354

International audience Aim Understanding the relative contribution of diversification rates (speciation and extinction) and dispersal in the formation of the latitudinal diversity gradient - the decrease in species richness with increasing latitude - is a main goal of biogeography. The mammalian order Carnivora, which comprises 286 species, displays the traditional latitudinal diversity gradient seen in almost all mammalian orders. Yet the processes driving high species richness in the tropics may be fundamentally different in this group from that in other mammalian groups. Indeed, a recent study suggested that in Carnivora, unlike in all other major mammalian orders, net diversification rates are not higher in the tropics than in temperate regions. Our goal was thus to understand the reasons why there are more species of Carnivora in the tropics. Location World-wide. Methods We reconstructed the biogeographical history of Carnivora using a time-calibrated phylogeny of the clade comprising all terrestrial species and dispersal-extinction-cladogenesis models. We also analysed a fossil dataset of carnivoran genera to examine how the latitudinal distribution of Carnivora varied through time. Results Our biogeographical analyses suggest that Carnivora originated in the East Palaearctic (i.e. Central Asia, China) in the early Palaeogene. Multiple independent lineages dispersed to low latitudes following three main paths: toward Africa, toward India/Southeast Asia and toward South America via the Bering Strait. These dispersal events were probably associated with local extinctions at high latitudes. Fossil data corroborate a high-latitude origin of the group, followed by late dispersal events toward lower latitudes in the Neogene. Main conclusions Unlike most other mammalian orders, which originated and diversified at low latitudes and dispersed out of the tropics', Carnivora originated at high latitudes, and subsequently dispersed southward. Our study provides an example of combining phylogenetic and fossil data to ...