Biotic interactions are more often important at species’ warm versus cool range edges

Predicting which ecological factors constrain species distributions is a fundamental ecological question and critical to forecasting geographic responses to global change. Darwin hypothesised that abiotic factors generally impose species’ high‐latitude and high‐elevation (typically cool) range limit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecology letters 2021-11, Vol.24 (11), p.2427-2438
Main Authors: Paquette, Alexandra, Hargreaves, Anna L., Ghalambor, Cameron
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abiotic factors
Climate change
competition
Elevation
Global warming
Latitude
latitudinal gradients
literature review
Literature reviews
Parasitism
pathogens
Predation
range limits
Species
species distributions
species interactions
temperature
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Summary:Predicting which ecological factors constrain species distributions is a fundamental ecological question and critical to forecasting geographic responses to global change. Darwin hypothesised that abiotic factors generally impose species’ high‐latitude and high‐elevation (typically cool) range limits, whereas biotic interactions more often impose species’ low‐latitude/low‐elevation (typically warm) limits, but empirical support has been mixed. Here, we clarify three predictions arising from Darwin's hypothesis and show that previously mixed support is partially due to researchers testing different predictions. Using a comprehensive literature review (885 range limits), we find that biotic interactions, including competition, predation and parasitism, contributed to >60% of range limits and influenced species’ warm limits more often than cool limits. Abiotic factors contributed more often than biotic interactions to cool range limits, but temperature contributed frequently to both cool and warm limits. Our results suggest that most range limits will be sensitive to climate warming, but warm‐limit responses in particular will depend strongly on biotic interactions. We review 338 studies that assess the ecological causes of species’ warm (low‐latitude/elevation) or cool (high‐latitude/elevation) range limits. We find that biotic interactions, including predation and competition, contributed to more than 60% of range limits, and confirm Darwin's prediction that biotic interactions influence species’ warm limits more often than cool limits. Temperature contributed frequently to both cool and warm limits; our results suggest that most range limits will be sensitive to climate warming, but responses at warm limits will depend strongly on biotic interactions.
ISSN:1461-023X
1461-0248
DOI:10.1111/ele.13864