Limited evidence for range shift–driven extinction in mountain biota

IF 44.7 1区综合性期刊 Q1 MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES

Science Pub Date : 2025-05-15

Yi-Hsiu Chen, Jonathan Lenoir, I-Ching Chen

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Mountain biodiversity reorganizes rapidly as species shift upslope to track temperatures. Pervasive species redistribution poses substantial threats to mountain ecosystems, a phenomenon sometimes described as an “escalator to extinction,” primarily through mountaintop extinctions, range shift gaps (i.e., rapid shifts of suitable temperatures getting ahead of narrow-range species’ upper limits), and lowland biodiversity attrition, yet empirical evidence remains scarce. In this study, our analysis of 8800 records of historical and modern elevational range limits for 440 animal and 1629 plant species revealed little evidence supporting the proposed threats. Observed changes largely fell within random expectations, accounting for geometric constraints. Although delayed mountaintop extinctions point to accumulating extinction debt, concurrent range expansions of both narrow-range and lowland species suggest thermal niche underfilling, processes that collectively drive biotic homogenization across biologically complex mountain ecosystems.

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山地生物群因范围移动而灭绝的证据有限

随着物种向上坡迁移以追踪温度，山区生物多样性迅速重组。普遍的物种再分配对山地生态系统构成了巨大的威胁，这种现象有时被描述为“走向灭绝的扶梯”，主要是通过山顶灭绝、范围转移间隙（即，适宜温度的快速变化超过了窄范围物种的上限）和低地生物多样性的消耗，但经验证据仍然很少。在这项研究中，我们分析了440种动物和1629种植物的8800份历史和现代海拔范围限制记录，发现几乎没有证据支持所提出的威胁。观察到的变化很大程度上落在随机预期范围内，说明了几何约束。尽管山顶物种的延迟灭绝表明灭绝债务的累积，但窄范围和低地物种的同时扩展表明热生态位的欠填，这一过程共同推动了生物复杂的山地生态系统的生物同质化。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Science 综合性期刊-综合性期刊

CiteScore

61.10

自引率

0.90%

发文量

审稿时长

2.1 months

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