As we seek to understand the causes behind global biodiversity, elevational gradients hold excellent
potential. To begin with, species richness is expected to decrease with rising elevation and peak in the
middle elevation. This is because large-ranged species groups' range position inside a bounded domain is
more constrained by geometric restrictions, their overlap in the center of the domain tends to produce a
greater mid-domain richness peak. Elevational patterns in species richness, specifically, can be divided into
four categories: decreasing, low plateau, low plateau with a mid-elevational peak and mid-elevation peak.
Low plateau patterns exhibit great richness in the bottom portion of the gradient followed by decreasing
richness. Low plateau patterns with a mid-elevational peak show great richness over low elevations, with
the most diversity finding more than 300 m from the base. Mid-elevation peaks feature a unimodal peak in
variety, with 25% or more species than at the mountain's base and top. As a result, species richness rarely
increases with elevation. All four patterns are found in vertebrates: mid-elevational peaks represent for 45%,
decreasing 26%, low plateaus 15%, and low plateaus with midpeaks 14%. Nonetheless, much more research
is required to identify the components of elevational species richness patterns, emphasizing the importance
of preserving intact montane gradients for research and species protection worldwide.
Source :
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
Elevational Gradients in Species Richness Christy M McCain, University of Colorado, Boulder,
Colorado, USA John-Arvid Grytnes, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
( https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=14b2e9494524f65d229e2274cc
41e5617c84fc7d )
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ecog.05901#:~:text=Range%20location%20within%
20a%20bounded,stronger%20mid%2Ddomain%20richness%20peak