DOI: 10.5061/dryad.866t1g1x9
title: Biogeographic affiliation and centers of richness as predictors of elevational range-size patterns for Malesian flora

description: Our goal was to interrogate the idea that “mountain passes are higher in
 the tropics” by investigating ecological and biogeographic drivers of
 elevational range-sizes patterns among equatorial flora. We used herbarium
 records for sixty species-rich plant families, representing 18535 species
 total, to estimate distributions over a 4500 m elevational gradient. For
 each family, we estimated the change in average range-sizes with
 increasing elevation (i.e. Rapoport’s rule, abbreviated as ERR) and
 quantified 15 metrics of familial richness distribution, evolutionary age,
 and biogeographic affiliation. We visualized covariation across families
 using phylogenetic principal components analysis (pPCA). We then evaluated
 how family-level ERR slopes correlated with each metric individually, as
 well as when using multivariate techniques to reduce dimensionality. We
 hypothesized that if long term climate stability over millions of years
 promotes habitat specialization, then among taxa with longer-term tropical
 affiliations, we would expect smaller range-sizes within lowland forests,
 with greater range-size expansion towards higher elevations, expressed as
 a positive ERR slope. Conversely, variation in growing conditions should
 promote larger, relatively consistent, range-sizes at all sections of an
 elevational gradient, expressed as a neutral ERR slope. Our results
 support this corollary because of the dichotomy of ERR slopes observed in
 relation to the elevational distribution of richness and historical
 biogeographic positioning. We found that families with greater Sundaland
 endemism, or richness that was restricted to tropical lowland forests, had
 positive ERR slopes. Families with stronger Sahul affiliation, or montane
 centered richness, had shallower, neutral, or negative ERR slopes, as did
 clades with temperate origins. Families with Wallacea affiliation, broader
 latitudinal or elevational distributions, cosmopolitanism, greater
 richness, or older evolutionary age had mixed results. We conclude that
 the relative steepness of an ERR slope is an indicator of a taxonomic
 group’s tolerance of habitat variation and vulnerability to contemporary
 climate change.
description: This dataset includes species-level elevational ranges and
 occurrence distribution summaries for &gt;31k plant species from
 Malesia, which includes the Malay Peninsula and islands of Sumatra,
 Borneo, Philippines, Java, Lesser Sunda Isles, Sulawesi, Maluki, and New
 Guinea (excluding the Bismarck archipelago).  For
 details on methods, data-sources, data standardization practices, or
 nomencalture used for “Biogeographic history and centers of richness
 define elevational range-size patterns for Malesian flora” refer to main
 document and Supporting information. The data used in the main manuscript
 is a subset of this Dryad file, selecting only species with two or more
 observations and from a species-rich family. Note, the
 original sources of data included more than a half-million entries from
 multiple data-sources, most origininating from GBIF.org. The Dryad data
 file does not include herbarium entries that were excluded due to being
 flagged as erroneous, non-relevant, or with information that we found to
 be lacking or conflicting. Elevation data is shown as meters above
 sea-level (m a.s.l); manually interpreted and converted from feet if
 necessary. In some instances, nomenclature used for family names has been
 adjusted to match the phylogenetic mega tree. Extensive
 quality control efforts were made to prevent errors with elevation,
 location, or nomenclature entries, but there is always potential for
 improvement. This file is provided as-is. Refer to the corresponding
 author for additional information if needed.
description: # Biogeographic affiliation and centers of richness as predictors of
 elevational range-size patterns for Malesian flora
 ## Description of the data
 and file structure **Taxonomic Columns** * Group – Angiosperms,
 Bryophytes, Gymnosperms, Pteridophytes * Order – 109 unique values *
 Family – 423 unique values * Genus – 3575 unique values * Species – 31277
 unique values **Elevation Distribution Columns** * obs – Estimated number
 of unique records of a given species * elev.min – minimum elevation (m
 a.s.l.) where a species has been observed or collected * elev.max -
 maximum elevation (m a.s.l.) where a species has been observed or
 collected * elev.avg – average elevation (m a.s.l.) where a species has
 been observed or collected * elev.sd – standard deviation (m) of elev.avg
 estimate; NA (n/a; not applicable) values shown if the number of
 observations is equal to one * extent – elev.max minus elev.min; indicates
 range-size (m) **Location Name Columns** Named after individual
 landmasses. Column names are as follows: malay, sumatra, borneo, palawan,
 phili, java, bali, lessersunda, sulawesi, maluku, newguinea. Note, New
 Guinea (newguinea column) does not include species from the Bismarck
 archipelago. Values are 1 for records indicating presence, 0 for no
 records of occurrence found. Location values based on fuzzy query of
 geopolitical or landmark names within collection site description, rather
 than GPS coordinates or summarized by other data clearinghouses. ## Data
 origin information Data was derived from the following sources: *
 Occurrence data downloaded from the Global Biodiversity Information
 Faculty (GBIF.org) with additional steps to quantify distribution metrics;
 additional quality control steps and/or standardization of units or
 geographic areas, including manual exclusion of records if flagged as
 possibly erroneous; location (island) presence based on fuzzy query of
 political, historical, or landmark terminology or notation found within
 original record descriptions; nomenclature checked with additional
 taxonomic details (e.g. family name) inferred if missing. Citation for
 original GBIF.org query and data sources (19 August 2023)
 * From the publication:
 Whitman, M., Beaman, R.S., Repin, R., Kitayama, K., Aiba, S.I. &
 Russo, S.E. (2021) Edaphic specialization and vegetation zones define
 elevational range-sizes for Mt Kinabalu regional flora. Ecography, 44,
 1698–1709. Dataset: