Historical rainforest contractions, localized extinctions and patterns of vertebrate endemism in the rainforests of Australia's wet tropics

Proceedings. Biological Sciences
S E Williams, R G Pearson

Abstract

The spatial patterns in the distributions of vertebrates in the rainforests of the wet tropics biogeographic region of north-eastern Australia were examined to form hypotheses on the processes that have shaped vertebrate assemblages and patterns of species richness and regional endemism. These rainforests occur in a relatively narrow and discontinuous strip along the coast of north-eastern Australia. We found that the number of regionally endemic species and the proportion of regional endemics present in each subregion are both strongly related to the geographic shape of subregional patches of rainforest, independent of rainforest area, within Australian tropical rainforests. Shape has a more significant influence on regional endemism than area, and area has a stronger influence on species richness. These patterns were congruent for all terrestrial vertebrate classes manuals, birds, reptiles and frogst, and for the four groups combined. Our results suggest that the combination of current rainforest area and shape are an index of the relative susceptibility of each area of rainforest to historical contractions, with the implication that historical habitat fluctuations, coupled with subsequent localized extinctions species siftin...Continue Reading

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Citations

Nov 10, 2009·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·S E WilliamsC N Johnson
Oct 17, 2003·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Stephen E WilliamsSamantha Fox
Feb 11, 2009·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·C MoritzC H Graham
Jul 20, 2010·BMC Ecology·Carolina Toranza, Matías Arim
Apr 25, 2002·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Andrew HugallJohn Stanisic
Jan 13, 2006·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Catherine H GrahamStephen E Williams
Jul 26, 2007·Conservation Biology : the Journal of the Society for Conservation Biology·Robert M Ewers, Raphael K Didham
Apr 28, 2006·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·Gaynor Dolman, Craig Moritz
Jul 22, 2008·Conservation Biology : the Journal of the Society for Conservation Biology·William F LauranceDavid W Hilbert
Aug 28, 2013·Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution·Charles M Kieswetter, Christopher J Schneider
Feb 24, 2009·Brazilian Journal of Biology = Revista Brasleira De Biologia·J Haffer
Aug 18, 2004·Journal of Evolutionary Biology·P Bouchard, D R Brooks
Nov 24, 2016·Ecology and Evolution·Shuang XingBrett R Scheffers

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