Tese
O papel dos processos evolutivos e ecológicos nos padrões de diversidade e coloração de espécies
Fecha
2023-07-26Autor
Cerezer, Felipe Osmari
Institución
Resumen
Naturalists have long recognized the variation of biological diversity over time and space. Two
significant aspects that spark great interest in ecology are the latitudinal gradient of diversity
and animal coloration. These classic patterns have led to the creation of various historical,
evolutionary, and ecological hypotheses, aiming to explain their causes and observed
patterns. These two knowledge gaps form the core of my thesis, in which I seek to
investigate: 1) the patterns and main causes of latitudinal gradients in species diversity, and
2) the eco-geographic gradients in the coloration of neotropical mammal pelage. In the first
chapter, the focus was on the influence of ecosystem productivity and temperature on the
diversity and species composition of termites along the latitudinal gradient. The second
chapter analyzed three key hypotheses to explain the diversity of groups considered
exceptions to the rule, namely those with higher diversity in cold and temperate regions. The
third chapter investigated the factors influencing speciation rates in freshwater fish. The fourth
chapter examined whether the degree of pigmentation in American marsupials is determined
by climatic gradients, as predicted by Gloger's rule. The fifth chapter investigated the
geographic variation in coloration of South American rodents, providing new insights into the
complex version of Gloger's rule. Collectively, these studies contribute to a better
understanding of the patterns and processes that influence biological diversity in different
groups of organisms and spatial contexts.