Marine macroalgal genus richness [data used in Keith et al. 2014]

This dataset consists of an ESRI shapefile showing genus richness counts of 3 macroalgal clades (Rhodophyta, Chlorophyta, Phaeophyceae) at 367 sites used in the analyses of Keith et al (2014)

Data extent: latitude 70S - 70N

Projection: World Equidistant Cylindrical.

Abstract [Related Publication]:

Aim: Marine macroalgae provide an excellent opportunity to test hypotheses about latitudinal diversity gradients because macroalgal richness decreases towards the tropics, contrary to classic patterns, and because three evolutionarily distinct macroalgal clades (Rhodophyta, Chlorophyta, Phaeophyceae) have converged ecologically. Specifically, we determine the extent to which environmental conditions can predict genus richness in macroalgae. We also evaluate whether the magnitude or direction of the effect of environmental factors, or their ability to explain variation in macroalgal diversity, varies geographically.

Location: Global oceans.

Methods: We formulated and fitted global spatial regression models and geographically weighted regression (GWR) models to determine the extent to which environmental conditions could predict genus richness in macroalgae. GWR allowed us to determine how the role of environmental conditions varied amongst geographical regions.

Results: The global regression model showed that sea surface temperature and nutrients were important predictors of macroalgal genus richness at a global scale. However, GWR revealed that environmental factors explained less variability in richness in the tropics than elsewhere.

Main conclusions: Our results show that whilst environmental conditions influence marine macroalgal diversity, the strength of this influence shows considerable geographical variation. In particular, environmental conditions explain more of the observed variation in diversity at high latitudes than at low latitudes. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that environmental tolerances influence species distributions more strongly at high latitudes, whereas other factors, such as biotic interactions, play a more prominent role in the tropics.

The full methodology is available in the publication shown in the Related Publications link below.

    Data Record Details
    Data record related to this publication Marine macroalgal genus richness [data used in Keith et al. 2014]
    Data Publication title Marine macroalgal genus richness [data used in Keith et al. 2014]
  • Description

    This dataset consists of an ESRI shapefile showing genus richness counts of 3 macroalgal clades (Rhodophyta, Chlorophyta, Phaeophyceae) at 367 sites used in the analyses of Keith et al (2014)

    Data extent: latitude 70S - 70N

    Projection: World Equidistant Cylindrical.

    Abstract [Related Publication]:

    Aim: Marine macroalgae provide an excellent opportunity to test hypotheses about latitudinal diversity gradients because macroalgal richness decreases towards the tropics, contrary to classic patterns, and because three evolutionarily distinct macroalgal clades (Rhodophyta, Chlorophyta, Phaeophyceae) have converged ecologically. Specifically, we determine the extent to which environmental conditions can predict genus richness in macroalgae. We also evaluate whether the magnitude or direction of the effect of environmental factors, or their ability to explain variation in macroalgal diversity, varies geographically.

    Location: Global oceans.

    Methods: We formulated and fitted global spatial regression models and geographically weighted regression (GWR) models to determine the extent to which environmental conditions could predict genus richness in macroalgae. GWR allowed us to determine how the role of environmental conditions varied amongst geographical regions.

    Results: The global regression model showed that sea surface temperature and nutrients were important predictors of macroalgal genus richness at a global scale. However, GWR revealed that environmental factors explained less variability in richness in the tropics than elsewhere.

    Main conclusions: Our results show that whilst environmental conditions influence marine macroalgal diversity, the strength of this influence shows considerable geographical variation. In particular, environmental conditions explain more of the observed variation in diversity at high latitudes than at low latitudes. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that environmental tolerances influence species distributions more strongly at high latitudes, whereas other factors, such as biotic interactions, play a more prominent role in the tropics.

    The full methodology is available in the publication shown in the Related Publications link below.

  • Other Descriptors
    • Descriptor

      This dataset is available from Figshare as an ESRI shapefile and PDF file (source reference list). Keith, Sally; P Kerswell, Ailsa; Connolly, Sean R (2013): Marine macroalgal genus richness [data used in Keith et al. 2014]. figshare. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.801788.v1

    • Descriptor type Note
  • Data type dataset
  • Keywords
    • biogeography
    • macroecology
    • seaweed
    • global
    • richness
    • diversity
    • macroalgae
    • marine biology
    • ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
  • Funding source
  • Research grant(s)/Scheme name(s)
  • Research themes
    Tropical Ecosystems, Conservation and Climate Change
    FoR Codes (*)
    SEO Codes
    Specify spatial or temporal setting of the data
    Temporal (time) coverage
  • Start Date
  • End Date
  • Time Period
    Spatial (location) coverage
  • Locations
    Data Locations
    The Data Manager is: Sally Keith
    College or Centre
    Access conditions Open: free access under license
  • Alternative access conditions
  • Data record size 2 files: 74.64 KB
  • Related publications
  • Related websites
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    • Notes
  • Related metadata (including standards, codebooks, vocabularies, thesauri, ontologies)
  • Related data
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    • Notes
    Citation Keith, Sally; Kerswell, Ailsa; Connolly, Sean (2013): Marine macroalgal genus richness [data used in Keith et al. 2014]. James Cook University. https://research.jcu.edu.au/data/published/8c7fd81bbba437c8e96986e2b6a79715