Data from: Microhabitat and climatic niche change explain patterns of diversification among frog families

A major goal of ecology and evolutionary biology is to explain patterns of species richness among clades. Differences in rates of net diversification (speciation minus extinction over time) may often explain these patterns, but the factors that drive variation in diversification rates remain uncertain. Three important candidates are climatic niche position (e.g., whether clades are primarily temperate or tropical), rates of climatic niche change among species within clades, and microhabitat (e.g., aquatic, terrestrial, arboreal). The first two factors have been tested separately in several studies, but the relative importance of all three is largely unknown. Here we explore the correlates of diversification among families of frogs, which collectively represent ∼88% of amphibian species. We assemble and analyze data on phylogeny, climate, and microhabitat for thousands of species. We find that the best-fitting phylogenetic multiple regression model includes all three types of variables: microhabitat, rates of climatic niche change, and climatic niche position. This model explains 67% of the variation in diversification rates among frog families, with arboreal microhabitat explaining ∼31%, niche rates ∼25%, and climatic niche position ∼11%. Surprisingly, we show that microhabitat can have a much stronger influence on diversification than climatic niche position or rates of climatic niche change.

生态学与进化生物学的核心目标之一，便是阐释不同演化支间的物种丰富度格局。净多样化速率（即物种形成速率减去长期灭绝速率）的差异往往可解释此类格局，但驱动多样化速率变异的核心影响因素仍未明确。目前已提出三大潜在关键驱动因素：气候生态位位置（例如演化支主要分布于温带还是热带）、演化支内物种间的气候生态位变化速率，以及微生境类型（如水生生境、陆生生境、树栖生境）。已有多项研究分别检验了前两类因素的作用，但目前学界对三者的相对重要性仍知之甚少。本研究聚焦蛙类各科的多样化相关关联——蛙类物种总数约占现存两栖动物物种的88%。我们整合并分析了数千个物种的系统发育、气候及微生境数据。研究发现，拟合效果最优的系统发育多元回归模型涵盖了全部三类变量：微生境、气候生态位变化速率与气候生态位位置。该模型可解释蛙类各科间67%的多样化速率变异，其中树栖微生境的解释度约为31%，生态位变化速率约25%，气候生态位位置约11%。令人意外的是，本研究证实，相较于气候生态位位置或气候生态位变化速率，微生境对物种多样化的影响要强得多。