Science. 1987 Oct 16;238(4825):360-3. doi: 10.1126/science.238.4825.360.
Geographic range has been regarded as a property of species rather than of individuals and thus as a potential factor in macroevolutionary processes. Species durations in Late Cretaceous mollusks exhibit statistically significant positive relationships with geographic range, and the attainment of a typical frequency distribution of geographic ranges in the cohort of species that originated just before the end-Cretaceous extinction indicates that species duration is the dependent variable. The strong relation between geographic ranges in pairs of closely related species indicates that the trait is, in effect, heritable at the species level. The significant heritabilities strengthen claims for processes of evolution by species-level selection, and for differential survivorship of organismic-level traits owing to extinction and origination processes operating at higher levels.
地理分布范围一直被视为物种的特性，而非个体的特性，因此也是宏观进化过程中的一个潜在因素。晚白垩纪软体动物的物种存续时间与地理分布范围呈显著的正相关关系，而且起源于白垩纪末灭绝事件之前的物种群中，地理分布范围呈现出典型的频次分布，这表明物种存续时间是一个因变量。在密切相关的物种对中，地理分布范围之间存在很强的关系，这表明该特征实际上在物种层面上是可遗传的。显著的遗传力加强了物种水平选择的进化过程的主张，以及由于在更高水平上发生的灭绝和起源过程而导致的生物体水平特征的生存差异的主张。
