A new paper by Gillman et al. (2009) confirms my hypothesis of “effective evolutionary time”, according to which species diversity is determined by direct temperature effects on mutation rates and generation times. The authors examined 260 mammal species of 10 orders and 29 families and found that substitution rates in the cytochrome B gene were substantially faster in species at warm latitudes and elevations, compared with those from cold latitudes and elevations. A critical examination of the data showed that this cannot be attributed to gene drift or body mass differentials. The only possibilities left are a Red Queen effect or direct effects of thermal gradients (including possibly an effect of torpor/hibernation differentials).

For details see

http://knol.google.com/k/klaus-rohde/effective-evolutionary-time/xk923bc3gp4/11#

and

http://knol.google.com/k/klaus-rohde/latitudinal-gradients-in-species/xk923bc3gp4/56#

For my publications on latitudinal gradients see:

http://blog.une.edu.au/klausrohde/2008/03/28/klaus-rohde-latitudinal-gradients-in-species-diversity-reproductive-strategies-and-geographical-ranges/

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