Contact

Robert K. Colwell

Museum Curator Adjoint in Entomology


robertkcolwell [at] gmail.com


Museum of Natural History

University of Colorado

Boulder, CO 80309, USA




robertkcolwell [at] gmail.com


Museum of Natural History

University of Colorado

Boulder, CO 80309, USA



Humboldt’s enigma: What causes global patterns of mountain biodiversity?


Journal article


C. Rahbek, M. K. Borregaard, R. K. Colwell, B. Dalsgaard, Ben G Holt, N. Morueta‐Holme, D. Nogues‐Bravo, R. Whittaker, J. Fjeldså
Science, 2019

Semantic Scholar DOI PubMed
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Cite

APA   Click to copy
Rahbek, C., Borregaard, M. K., Colwell, R. K., Dalsgaard, B., Holt, B. G., Morueta‐Holme, N., … Fjeldså, J. (2019). Humboldt’s enigma: What causes global patterns of mountain biodiversity? Science.


Chicago/Turabian   Click to copy
Rahbek, C., M. K. Borregaard, R. K. Colwell, B. Dalsgaard, Ben G Holt, N. Morueta‐Holme, D. Nogues‐Bravo, R. Whittaker, and J. Fjeldså. “Humboldt’s Enigma: What Causes Global Patterns of Mountain Biodiversity?” Science (2019).


MLA   Click to copy
Rahbek, C., et al. “Humboldt’s Enigma: What Causes Global Patterns of Mountain Biodiversity?” Science, 2019.


BibTeX   Click to copy

@article{c2019a,
  title = {Humboldt’s enigma: What causes global patterns of mountain biodiversity?},
  year = {2019},
  journal = {Science},
  author = {Rahbek, C. and Borregaard, M. K. and Colwell, R. K. and Dalsgaard, B. and Holt, Ben G and Morueta‐Holme, N. and Nogues‐Bravo, D. and Whittaker, R. and Fjeldså, J.}
}

Abstract

Mountains contribute disproportionately to the terrestrial biodiversity of Earth, especially in the tropics, where they host hotspots of extraordinary and puzzling richness. With about 25% of all land area, mountain regions are home to more than 85% of the world’s species of amphibians, birds, and mammals, many entirely restricted to mountains. Biodiversity varies markedly among these regions. Together with the extreme species richness of some tropical mountains, this variation has proven challenging to explain under traditional climatic hypotheses. However, the complex climatic characteristics of rugged mountain regions differ fundamentally from those of lowland regions, likely playing a key role in generating and maintaining diversity. With ongoing global changes in climate and land use, the role of mountains as refugia for biodiversity may well come under threat.


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