Plants and animals that live in the more temperate zones do not evolve as faster as those living in warm, tropical climates! A new study suggests this. This finding could help explain why rainforests have such rich biodiversity and not other parts of the planet. This finding is reported in details in the May 2 issue of the journal for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Species’ richness around the world is uneven. A census of all the plants and animals would reveal this. Biodiversity is the richest in the tropics — the Earth’s regions near the equator, and distinctly gets poorer as one moves away from the tropics towards the poles.
But, what are the reasons for this trend? May be, looking at the rate of molecular evolution for 45 tropical plants and comparing it to that of related species living at more temperate latitudes can find the answer to this. To investigate onto this, Shane Wright of the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and colleagues are working on these lines.
Via: Live Science