Harrison Susan, Noss Reed
Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA, USA
Department of Biology, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA.
Ann Bot. 2017 Jan;119(2):207-214. doi: 10.1093/aob/mcw248. Epub 2017 Jan 7.
Centres of endemism have received much attention from evolutionists, biogeographers, ecologists and conservationists. Climatic stability is often cited as a major reason for the occurrences of these geographic concentrations of species which are not found anywhere else. The proposed linkage between endemism and climatic stability raises unanswered questions about the persistence of biodiversity during the present era of rapidly changing climate.
The current status of evidence linking geographic centres of endemism to climatic stability over evolutionary time was examined. The following questions were asked. Do macroecological analyses support such an endemism-stability linkage? Do comparative studies find that endemic species display traits reflecting evolution in stable climates? Will centres of endemism in microrefugia or macrorefugia remain relatively stable and capable of supporting high biological diversity into the future? What are the implications of the endemism-stability linkage for conservation?
Recent work using the concept of climate change velocity supports the classic idea that centres of endemism occur where past climatic fluctuations have been mild and where mountainous topography or favourable ocean currents contribute to creating refugia. Our knowledge of trait differences between narrow endemics and more widely distributed species remains highly incomplete. Current knowledge suggests that centres of endemism will remain relatively climatically buffered in the future, with the important caveat that absolute levels of climatic change and species losses in these regions may still be large.
特有种中心受到了进化生物学家、生物地理学家、生态学家和保护主义者的广泛关注。气候稳定性常被认为是这些物种地理集中现象出现的主要原因，这些物种在其他地方并不存在。特有性与气候稳定性之间的这种联系引发了关于在当前气候快速变化时代生物多样性持续性的未解决问题。
研究了将特有种地理中心与进化时间尺度上的气候稳定性联系起来的现有证据的现状。提出了以下问题。宏观生态分析是否支持这种特有性 - 稳定性联系？比较研究是否发现特有物种表现出反映在稳定气候中进化的特征？微避难所或宏避难所中的特有种中心在未来是否仍将相对稳定并能够支持高生物多样性？特有性 - 稳定性联系对保护有何影响？
最近利用气候变化速度概念开展的研究支持了这一经典观点，即特有种中心出现在过去气候波动较小、山地地形或有利洋流有助于形成避难所的地方。我们对狭域特有种和分布较广物种之间特征差异的了解仍然非常不完整。目前的知识表明，特有种中心在未来仍将相对受到气候缓冲，重要的是要注意这些地区气候变化的绝对水平和物种损失可能仍然很大。
