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Journal Watch

Cold Climate Evolution


©Leslie Banks/istockphoto.com

Species come and go faster near the poles

By Robin Meadows
July-September 2007 (Vol. 8, No. 3)

Weir, J.T. and D. Schluter. The latitudinal gradient in recent speciation and extinction rates of birds and mammals. Science 315:1574-1576.


Just as breaking into a crowded market can be tough, it turns out that fewer species arise in the biodiversity-rich tropics. But alternative markets can be risky. While species in colder climes evolve faster, they also die out faster, thus keeping their numbers low.

So says a surprising new study in Science, nixing the popular view that species evolve faster in the tropics. The study also offers a neat solution to the long-standing puzzle of why there are more species at the equator than at higher latitudes.





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