On the Causes of Tropical Species Diversity: Niche Overlap
Klopfer PH and MacArthur RH. 1961. On the Causes of Tropical Species Diversity: Niche Overlap. The American Naturalist. 95(883):223-226
Breeding bird censuses reveal a great increase in the number of bird species in the tropics as compared with the temperate zones. This increase is common to most clases of organisms and so quite likely has a general explanation. The causes of the increase have received considerable attention, mostly of a speculative and statistical nature. Many of the proposals that have been made appear to be simply wrong or else are so vague as to be meaningless. In this paper some relevant data are presented, based on comparisons of observations in Panama and the United States. We hope to show that one of the important factors in tropical diversity is an enhanced capacity of tropicals species to tolerate overlapping requirements to a degree not found further north.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Klopfer, Peter; MacArthur, R
- Units
- SODN
- Keywords
- Ecology (Animal), Ecology (Plant), niche, Species Diversity, tropical