Latitudinal Gradient of Species Diversity Essay -- Geography Geology N

Latitudinal Gradient of Species revolutionThe latitudinal gradient in species innovation is one of the most smash patterns in the distribution of organisms on the planet. Simply put, the average number of species per building block area increases dramatically the closer the area is to the equator, almost entirely regardless of the type of organism being considered (Pianka, 1994). Researchers investigating the gradient have hypothesise a wide variety of hypothesis explaining the higher level of species diversity in the tropics. These include but are not limited to a greater degree of evolution and radiation in equatorial species repayable to the long and relatively stable geological history of the area, seasonal climatical stability and/or predictability, a higher level of productivity, an increased judge of competition and a higher predation intensity (Pianka, 1994). Another possibleness is that tropical res publicas somehow influence species diversity and thus cause the latitudinal gradient. This paper will further investigate this final theory by outlining the basic characteristics of tropical soils, summarizing the mechanisms invoked to explain species diversity with these soil characteristics, and evaluating how well this query agrees with what is known about tropical soils. For the sake of narrowing the topic somewhat, forethought is limited to the soils of and research occurring in Latin America. Tropical SoilsIn the past, tropical soils have been over-simplified and misunderstood (Sanchez, 1976), and this situation plagued soil science at to the lowest degree until the late seventies ( caravan Wambeke and Dudal, 1978). Sanchez (1976) attributes this misunderstanding of tropical soils to the fact that when temperate region-t rainfalled soil scientists first went to the... ...s richness in Costa Rican timbers Journal of Biogeography, 7, 147-157. Jordan, C.F. and Herrera, R., 1981, Tropical rain forests are nutrients really critical? Americ an Naturalist, 117, 167-180. Paoletti, M.G., Taylor, R.A.J., Stinner, B.R., Stinner, D.H., and Benzing, D.H., Diversity of soil wildcat in the canopy and forest floor of a Venequelan cloud forest Journal of Tropical Ecology, 7, 373-383. Pianka, E.R., 1994. Evolutionary Ecology, Fifth Edition New York, harpist Collins College Publishers, p. 390-396. Sanchez, P., 1976, Properties and Management of Soils in the Tropics New York, John Wiley and Sons, Chapters 2,3,4, and 5. Van Wambeke, A., and Dudal, R., 1978, Macrovariability of soils of the tropics, p. 13-28 in Stelly, M. (editor-in-chief), Diversity of Soils in the Tropics Ithaca, Department of Agronomy, Cornell University Press.