Climatic-niche evolution follows similar rules in plants and animals

Climatic niches are essential in determining where species can occur and how they will respond to climate change. However, it remains unclear if climatic-niche evolution is similar in plants and animals, or intrinsically different. For example, previous authors have proposed that plants have broader environmental tolerances than animals but are more sensitive to climate change. Here we test ten predictions about climatic-niche evolution in plants and animals, using phylogenetic and climatic data for 19 plant clades and 17 vertebrate clades (2087 species total). Surprisingly, we find that for all ten predictions, plants and animals show similar patterns. For example, in both groups, climatic niches change at similar mean rates and species have similar mean niche breadths, and niche breadths show similar relationships with latitude across groups. Our results suggest that there are general ‘rules’ of climatic-niche evolution that span plants and animals, despite the fundamental differences...气候生态位（climatic niche）是决定物种分布范围及其对气候变化响应方式的核心要素。然而，目前尚不清楚动植物的气候生态位演化规律究竟是相似的，还是存在本质差异。例如，此前已有研究者提出，植物的环境耐受范围较动物更广，但对气候变化的敏感性却更高。本研究依托19个植物演化支与17个脊椎动物演化支的系统发育数据及气候数据（涵盖总计2087个物种），对动植物气候生态位演化的10项预测展开验证。令人意外的是，我们发现针对全部10项预测，动植物均呈现出一致的演化模式。例如，两类群的气候生态位演化平均速率相近，物种的平均生态位宽度也无显著差异，且生态位宽度与纬度的关联模式在两类群中保持一致。本研究结果表明，尽管动植物存在诸多本质差异，但二者的气候生态位演化仍存在普适性的“法则”。