ALBERT

Description: Global patterns of species richness and their structuring forces have fascinated biologists since Darwin and provide critical context for contemporary studies in ecology, evolution and conservation. Anthropogenic impacts and the need for systematic conservation planning have further motivated the analysis of diversity patterns and processes at regional to global scales. Whereas land diversity patterns and their predictors are known for numerous taxa, our understanding of global marine diversity has been more limited, with recent findings revealing some striking contrasts to widely held terrestrial paradigms. Here we examine global patterns and predictors of species richness across 13 major species groups ranging from zooplankton to marine mammals. Two major patterns emerged: coastal species showed maximum diversity in the Western Pacific, whereas oceanic groups consistently peaked across broad mid-latitudinal bands in all oceans. Spatial regression analyses revealed sea surface temperature as the only environmental predictor highly related to diversity across all 13 taxa. Habitat availability and historical factors were also important for coastal species, whereas other predictors had less significance. Areas of high species richness were disproportionately concentrated in regions with medium or higher human impacts. Our findings indicate a fundamental role of temperature or kinetic energy in structuring cross-taxon marine biodiversity, and indicate that changes in ocean temperature, in conjunction with other human impacts, may ultimately rearrange the global distribution of life in the ocean.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Tittensor, Derek P -- Mora, Camilo -- Jetz, Walter -- Lotze, Heike K -- Ricard, Daniel -- Berghe, Edward Vanden -- Worm, Boris -- England -- Nature. 2010 Aug 26;466(7310):1098-101. doi: 10.1038/nature09329. Epub 2010 Jul 28.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford Street, Halifax B3H 4J1, Canada. derekt@mathstat.dal.ca〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20668450" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Costello et al. (Review, 25 January 2013, p. 413) challenged the common view that many species are disappearing before being described. We suggest that their conclusion is overly optimistic because of a limited selection and interpretation of available evidence that tends to overestimate rates of species description and underestimate the number of species on Earth and their current extinction rate.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Mora, Camilo -- Rollo, Audrey -- Tittensor, Derek P -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2013 Jul 19;341(6143):237. doi: 10.1126/science.1237254.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Geography, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. cmora@hawaii.edu〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23869005" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Tittensor, Derek P -- England -- Nature. 2013 Sep 26;501(7468):494-5. doi: 10.1038/501494a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24067706" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Tittensor, Derek P -- England -- Nature. 2012 Aug 30;488(7413):594-5. doi: 10.1038/488594a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22932378" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Purves, Drew -- Scharlemann, Jorn -- Harfoot, Mike -- Newbold, Tim -- Tittensor, Derek P -- Hutton, Jon -- Emmott, Stephen -- England -- Nature. 2013 Jan 17;493(7432):295-7. doi: 10.1038/493295a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Computational Ecology and Environmental Science Group at Microsoft Research in Cambridge, UK.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23325192" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: In 2010, the international community, under the auspices of the Convention on Biological Diversity, agreed on 20 biodiversity-related "Aichi Targets" to be achieved within a decade. We provide a comprehensive mid-term assessment of progress toward these global targets using 55 indicator data sets. We projected indicator trends to 2020 using an adaptive statistical framework that incorporated the specific properties of individual time series. On current trajectories, results suggest that despite accelerating policy and management responses to the biodiversity crisis, the impacts of these efforts are unlikely to be reflected in improved trends in the state of biodiversity by 2020. We highlight areas of societal endeavor requiring additional efforts to achieve the Aichi Targets, and provide a baseline against which to assess future progress.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Tittensor, Derek P -- Walpole, Matt -- Hill, Samantha L L -- Boyce, Daniel G -- Britten, Gregory L -- Burgess, Neil D -- Butchart, Stuart H M -- Leadley, Paul W -- Regan, Eugenie C -- Alkemade, Rob -- Baumung, Roswitha -- Bellard, Celine -- Bouwman, Lex -- Bowles-Newark, Nadine J -- Chenery, Anna M -- Cheung, William W L -- Christensen, Villy -- Cooper, H David -- Crowther, Annabel R -- Dixon, Matthew J R -- Galli, Alessandro -- Gaveau, Valerie -- Gregory, Richard D -- Gutierrez, Nicolas L -- Hirsch, Tim L -- Hoft, Robert -- Januchowski-Hartley, Stephanie R -- Karmann, Marion -- Krug, Cornelia B -- Leverington, Fiona J -- Loh, Jonathan -- Lojenga, Rik Kutsch -- Malsch, Kelly -- Marques, Alexandra -- Morgan, David H W -- Mumby, Peter J -- Newbold, Tim -- Noonan-Mooney, Kieran -- Pagad, Shyama N -- Parks, Bradley C -- Pereira, Henrique M -- Robertson, Tim -- Rondinini, Carlo -- Santini, Luca -- Scharlemann, Jorn P W -- Schindler, Stefan -- Sumaila, U Rashid -- Teh, Louise S L -- van Kolck, Jennifer -- Visconti, Piero -- Ye, Yimin -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Oct 10;346(6206):241-4. doi: 10.1126/science.1257484. Epub 2014 Oct 2.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), 219 Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0DL, UK. Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford Street, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada. derek.tittensor@unep-wcmc.org. ; United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), 219 Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0DL, UK. ; Department of Biology, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada. Ocean Sciences Division, Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Post Office Box 1006, Dartmouth, NS B2Y 4A2, Canada. ; Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford Street, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada. ; United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), 219 Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0DL, UK. Centre for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Natural History Museum, Copenhagen, DK-2100, Denmark. ; BirdLife International, Wellbrook Court, Cambridge CB3 0NA, UK. ; ESE Laboratory, Universite Paris-Sud, UMR 8079, CNRS-Universite Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay, France. ; PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, Post Office Box 303, 3720 AH, Bilthoven, Netherlands. ; Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00153 Rome, Italy. ; PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, Post Office Box 303, 3720 AH, Bilthoven, Netherlands. Department of Earth Sciences-Geochemistry, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Post Office Box 80021, 3508 TA Utrecht, Netherlands. ; Fisheries Centre, The University of British Columbia, 2202 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada. ; Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, 413, Saint Jacques Street, Suite 800, Montreal, QC H2Y 1N9, Canada. ; Global Footprint Network, 7-9 Chemin de Balexert, 1219 Geneva, Switzerland. ; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2 rue Andre-Pascal, 75775 Paris Cedex 16, France. ; RSPB Centre for Conservation Science The Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire SG19 2DL, UK. ; Marine Stewardship Council, 1-3 Snow Hill, London EC1A 2DH, UK. ; The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) Secretariat Universitetsparken 15, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. ; Center for Limnology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 680 North Park Street, Madison, WI 53706, USA. ; Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) International, Charles-de-Gaulle Strasse 5, 53113 Bonn, Germany. ; ESE Laboratory, Universite Paris-Sud, UMR 8079, CNRS-Universite Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay, France. DIVERSITAS, 57 rue Cuvier-CP 41, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France. ; University of Queensland, Diamantina National Park via Winton, QLD 4735, Australia. ; Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London NW1 4RY, UK. ; Union for Ethical BioTrade, De Ruyterkade 6, 1013 AA, Amsterdam, Netherlands. ; German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany. Institute of Biology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Am Kirchtor 1, 06108 Halle (Saale), Germany. ; Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species Secretariat, Maison internationale de l'environnement, 11-13 Chemin des Anemones, 1219 Chatelaine, Geneva, Switzerland. ; Marine Spatial Ecology Lab, School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, St. Lucia Brisbane, Qld 4072 Australia. ; The International Union for Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission (IUCN SSC) Invasive Species Specialist Group, University of Auckland, Tamaki Campus, Auckland, New Zealand. ; AidData, The College of William and Mary, Post Office Box 8795, Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795, USA. ; Department of Biology and Biotechnologies, Sapienza-Universita di Roma, Viale dell' Universita 32, 00185 Rome, Italy. ; United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), 219 Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0DL, UK. School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QG, UK. ; Environment Agency Austria, Department of Biodiversity and Nature Conservation, Spittelauer Lande 5, 1090 Vienna, Austria. University of Vienna, Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, Division of Conservation Biology, Vegetation Ecology and Landscape Ecology, Rennweg 14, 1030 Vienna, Austria. ; Microsoft Research, Computational Science Laboratory, 21 Station Road, Cambridge, CB1 2FB, UK.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25278504" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Marine taxa are threatened by anthropogenic impacts, but knowledge of their extinction vulnerabilities is limited. The fossil record provides rich information on past extinctions that can help predict biotic responses. We show that over 23 million years, taxonomic membership and geographic range size consistently explain a large proportion of extinction risk variation in six major taxonomic groups. We assess intrinsic risk-extinction risk predicted by paleontologically calibrated models-for modern genera in these groups. Mapping the geographic distribution of these genera identifies coastal biogeographic provinces where fauna with high intrinsic risk are strongly affected by human activity or climate change. Such regions are disproportionately in the tropics, raising the possibility that these ecosystems may be particularly vulnerable to future extinctions. Intrinsic risk provides a prehuman baseline for considering current threats to marine biodiversity.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Finnegan, Seth -- Anderson, Sean C -- Harnik, Paul G -- Simpson, Carl -- Tittensor, Derek P -- Byrnes, Jarrett E -- Finkel, Zoe V -- Lindberg, David R -- Liow, Lee Hsiang -- Lockwood, Rowan -- Lotze, Heike K -- McClain, Craig R -- McGuire, Jenny L -- O'Dea, Aaron -- Pandolfi, John M -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 May 1;348(6234):567-70. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa6635.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. sethf@berkeley.edu. ; Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada. ; Department of Earth and Environment, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA 17604, USA. ; Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC 20013, USA. ; United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge CB3 0DL, UK. Computational Science Laboratory, Microsoft Research, Cambridge CB1 2FB, UK. Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2, Canada. ; Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA 02125, USA. ; Environmental Science Program, Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick E4L 1A5, Canada. ; Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. ; Center for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Blindern, N-0316 Oslo, Norway. ; Department of Geology, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23187, USA. ; Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2, Canada. ; National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, Durham, NC 27705, USA. ; School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. ; Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, 0843-03092, Balboa, Republic of Panama. ; Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25931558" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: With frigid temperatures and virtually no in situ productivity, the deep oceans, Earth’s largest ecosystem, are especially energy-deprived systems. Our knowledge of the effects of this energy limitation on all levels of biological organization is very incomplete. Here, we use the Metabolic Theory of Ecology to examine the relative roles...

Description: The deep ocean is the largest and least-explored ecosystem on Earth, and a uniquely energy-poor environment. The distribution, drivers and origins of deep-sea biodiversity remain unknown at global scales. Here we analyse a database of more than 165,000 distribution records of Ophiuroidea (brittle stars), a dominant component of sea-floor fauna, and find patterns of biodiversity unlike known terrestrial or coastal marine realms. Both patterns and environmental predictors of deep-sea (2,000-6,500 m) species richness fundamentally differ from those found in coastal (0-20 m), continental shelf (20-200 m), and upper-slope (200-2,000 m) waters. Continental shelf to upper-slope richness consistently peaks in tropical Indo-west Pacific and Caribbean (0-30 degrees ) latitudes, and is well explained by variations in water temperature. In contrast, deep-sea species show maximum richness at higher latitudes (30-50 degrees ), concentrated in areas of high carbon export flux and regions close to continental margins. We reconcile this structuring of oceanic biodiversity using a species-energy framework, with kinetic energy predicting shallow-water richness, while chemical energy (export productivity) and proximity to slope habitats drive deep-sea diversity. Our findings provide a global baseline for conservation efforts across the sea floor, and demonstrate that deep-sea ecosystems show a biodiversity pattern consistent with ecological theory, despite being different from other planetary-scale habitats.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Woolley, Skipton N C -- Tittensor, Derek P -- Dunstan, Piers K -- Guillera-Arroita, Gurutzeta -- Lahoz-Monfort, Jose J -- Wintle, Brendan A -- Worm, Boris -- O'Hara, Timothy D -- England -- Nature. 2016 May 11;533(7603):393-6. doi: 10.1038/nature17937.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Museum Victoria, GPO Box 666, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia. ; Quantitative and Applied Ecology Group, School of Biological Sciences, BioSciences Building 2, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia. ; Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford Street, Halifax B3H 4J1, Canada. ; United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre, 219 Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0DL, UK. ; CSIRO, Wealth from Oceans Flagship, Hobart, Tasmania 7000, Australia.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27193685" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Tittensor, Derek P -- England -- Nature. 2015 Dec 3;528(7580):43-4. doi: 10.1038/nature16314. Epub 2015 Nov 11.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge CB3 0DL, UK, and at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26560035" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉