Key Laboratory of Southwest China Wildlife Resources Conservation of Ministry of Education, China West Normal University, 1 Shida Road, Nanchong, 637002, China.
Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Resource Conservation and Utilization, Northeast Normal University, 2555 Jingyue Street, Changchun, 130117, China.
Sci Rep. 2019 Mar 14;9(1):4526. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-41125-0.
Why some species are widespread across continents while others are confined geographically remains an open question in ecology and biogeography. Previous research has attempted to explain interspecific variation in geographic range size based on differences in dispersal ability. However, the relationship between dispersal ability and geographic range size remains uncertain, particularly in mammals. The goal of this study is to test whether geographic range size can be predicted by dispersal capacity among vespertilionid bats within a phylogenetic comparative framework. We integrated a large dataset on range area, longitudinal extent, wing morphology (a proxy for dispersal ability), migratory habit, and biogeographic realm across 126 vespertilionid bat species. We used phylogenetic regressions to disentangle the associations between these predictor factors and species range size while controlling for the effects of migration and biogeographic realm. Our analyses revealed that bat species with higher wing loading exhibit larger distribution ranges than those with lower wing loading, and that the size of geographic ranges was associated with wing aspect ratio in bats. These results highlight the relationship between wing morphology and range size in flying mammals, and suggest a role of dispersal capacity in shaping species' geographic distributions.
为什么有些物种在各大洲广泛分布，而有些物种则在地理上受到限制，这在生态学和生物地理学中仍是一个悬而未决的问题。先前的研究试图根据扩散能力的差异来解释种间地理范围大小的变化。然而，扩散能力和地理范围大小之间的关系仍然不确定，特别是在哺乳动物中。本研究的目的是在蝙蝠科蝙蝠的系统发育比较框架内，检验地理范围大小是否可以通过扩散能力来预测。我们整合了一个关于蝙蝠科 126 种蝙蝠的范围面积、经度范围、翼形态（扩散能力的代理）、迁徙习性和生物地理领域的大型数据集。我们使用系统发育回归来区分这些预测因子与物种范围大小之间的关联，同时控制迁移和生物地理领域的影响。我们的分析表明，翼负荷较高的蝙蝠物种比翼负荷较低的蝙蝠物种具有更大的分布范围，并且地理范围的大小与蝙蝠的翼展比有关。这些结果强调了飞行哺乳动物中翼形态和范围大小之间的关系，并表明扩散能力在塑造物种地理分布方面的作用。
