BRS: Evolution lecture Trevor Price "The distribution of biodiversity across the Himalaya"

host: graduate students (contact Ken Thompson)

Abstract: Tropical mountainous regions are exceptionally biodiverse. In this talk, I address causes of species richness across the Himalaya. The entire range lies just north of the tropics but still spans 30% of the world’s climates,  8% the world’s breeding bird species and 6% of the world’s mammals. The southeast Himalaya are closer to the tropics than the northwest, and at lower elevations the northwest is substantially drier than the southeast. Bird species richness declines two-fold from the southeast to the northwest and tree species declines threefold. Most groups that have been studied show monotonic declines in species richness with elevation, but in the east, songbirds have highest richness at middle elevations. Partitioning diversity into components of geographical and elevational turnover, and alpha diversity, I use measurements of resources, climate and phylogenetic relationships to assess alternative explanations for the underlying causes of these patterns.

Topic: BRS Evolution lecture: Trevor Price
Start Time : Mar 31, 2021 11:39 AM

Meeting Recording:
https://ubc.zoom.us/rec/share/Fs_fbxMdf8V59vvkW3rrqQYCaKJZOSXdnj8g-IyH1…

Access Passcode: contact Katie for the passcode (brcadmin@biodiversity.ubc.ca)