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Macroecology
and Biogeography
The causes of
variation in species richness at large spatial scales are intensively
debated. I am interested in examining the biogeographic distribution
and diversity of terrestrial vertebrates and plants at regional, continental,
and global spatial scales. Particularly, I try to disentangle to what
extend biotic interactions, climate and energy availability, habitat
heterogeneity, and evolutionary or biogeographic history shape species
distributions and spatial patterns of biodiversity. I compile and
use large databases on species occurrences and environmental variables
and apply advanced statistics to test the potential of explanatory
variables at different spatial scales. With this research I explore
and generate hypotheses on the interplay of biotic, environmental,
and historical constraints on community assembly and species distribution
over broad geographic scales.
Keywords:
biogeography, co-evolution, community assembly, macroecology, plant-animal
interactions, species-energy theory.
Select publications:
- Kissling,
W.D., Rahbek, C. & K. Böhning-Gaese (2007): Food plant
diversity as broad-scale determinant of avian frugivore richness.
Proceedings of the Royal Society B 274: 799-808. [Abstract
+ free PDF]
- Kissling,
W.D., Böhning-Gaese, K. & Jetz, W. (2009): The global
distribution of frugivory in birds. Global Ecology and Biogeography
18: 150–162. [Abstract]
- Qian, H. &
Kissling, W.D. (2010): Spatial scale and cross-taxon congruence
of terrestrial vertebrate and vascular plant species richness in
China. Ecology
91: 1172–1183. [Abstract]
- Kissling,
W.D., Sekercioglu, C.H. & Jetz, W. (2011): Bird dietary
guild richness across latitudes, environments and biogeographic
regions. Global Ecology & Biogeography, in press. [Early
Online]
Figure:
The proportion of frugivores (i.e., birds having fruits as their
main diet) in bird assemblages across the world. Note a strong latitudinal
gradient with highest proportions of fruit-eating birds (red color)
at tropical latitudes, especially in the Neotropics and Southeast
Asia. From Kissling et al. (2009).
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W.
Daniel Kissling
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