Evolutionary age correlates with range size across plants and animals
Abstract More than 40 thousand species of plants and animals are facing extinction worldwide. Range size is one of the strongest determinants of extinction risk, but the causes underlying the wide variation in natural range sizes remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate how species’ age is rel...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-08-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62124-y |
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| author | Adriana Alzate Roberto Rozzi Julian A. Velasco D. Ross Robertson Alexander Zizka Joseph A. Tobias Adrian Hill Christine D. Bacon Thijs Janzen Loïc Pellissier Fons van der Plas James Rosindell Renske E. Onstein |
| author_facet | Adriana Alzate Roberto Rozzi Julian A. Velasco D. Ross Robertson Alexander Zizka Joseph A. Tobias Adrian Hill Christine D. Bacon Thijs Janzen Loïc Pellissier Fons van der Plas James Rosindell Renske E. Onstein |
| author_sort | Adriana Alzate |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract More than 40 thousand species of plants and animals are facing extinction worldwide. Range size is one of the strongest determinants of extinction risk, but the causes underlying the wide variation in natural range sizes remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate how species’ age is related to present-day range size for over 26,000 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, reef fishes, and plants. We show that, on average, older species have larger ranges across all groups except for marine mammals, but the strength of the age-range size relationship depends on taxonomic scale. Furthermore, while our results confirm the well-established pattern of smaller range sizes for species restricted to islands (compared to mainland) or with limited dispersal abilities (compared to good dispersers), we show that the correlation between species age and range size is stronger in these groups, suggesting that island dynamics and dispersal ability modulate this relationship. Our study reveals that species with small ranges, and thus increased extinction risk, tend to be restricted to islands, are poor dispersers, or have recently evolved. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b8238511fb9a4c5590bd2e09e45d7d25 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-08-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-b8238511fb9a4c5590bd2e09e45d7d252025-08-24T11:37:31ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-08-0116111110.1038/s41467-025-62124-yEvolutionary age correlates with range size across plants and animalsAdriana Alzate0Roberto Rozzi1Julian A. Velasco2D. Ross Robertson3Alexander Zizka4Joseph A. Tobias5Adrian Hill6Christine D. Bacon7Thijs Janzen8Loïc Pellissier9Fons van der Plas10James Rosindell11Renske E. Onstein12German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle - Jena - LeipzigGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle - Jena - LeipzigInstituto de Ciencias de la Atmósfera y Cambio Climático, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoSmithsonian Tropical Research InstituteDepartment of Biology, Philipps-University MarburgDepartment of Life Sciences, Imperial College LondonDepartment of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of GothenburgDepartment of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of GothenburgGroningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of GroningenEcosystems & Landscape Evolution, Department of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH ZurichPlant Ecology and Nature Conservation, Wageningen University and ResearchDepartment of Life Sciences, Imperial College LondonGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle - Jena - LeipzigAbstract More than 40 thousand species of plants and animals are facing extinction worldwide. Range size is one of the strongest determinants of extinction risk, but the causes underlying the wide variation in natural range sizes remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate how species’ age is related to present-day range size for over 26,000 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, reef fishes, and plants. We show that, on average, older species have larger ranges across all groups except for marine mammals, but the strength of the age-range size relationship depends on taxonomic scale. Furthermore, while our results confirm the well-established pattern of smaller range sizes for species restricted to islands (compared to mainland) or with limited dispersal abilities (compared to good dispersers), we show that the correlation between species age and range size is stronger in these groups, suggesting that island dynamics and dispersal ability modulate this relationship. Our study reveals that species with small ranges, and thus increased extinction risk, tend to be restricted to islands, are poor dispersers, or have recently evolved.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62124-y |
| spellingShingle | Adriana Alzate Roberto Rozzi Julian A. Velasco D. Ross Robertson Alexander Zizka Joseph A. Tobias Adrian Hill Christine D. Bacon Thijs Janzen Loïc Pellissier Fons van der Plas James Rosindell Renske E. Onstein Evolutionary age correlates with range size across plants and animals Nature Communications |
| title | Evolutionary age correlates with range size across plants and animals |
| title_full | Evolutionary age correlates with range size across plants and animals |
| title_fullStr | Evolutionary age correlates with range size across plants and animals |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evolutionary age correlates with range size across plants and animals |
| title_short | Evolutionary age correlates with range size across plants and animals |
| title_sort | evolutionary age correlates with range size across plants and animals |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62124-y |
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