title: The mossy north: an inverse latitudinal diversity gradient in European bryophytes.
abstract: It remains hotly debated whether latitudinal diversity gradients are common across taxonomic groups and whether a single mechanism can explain such gradients. Investigating species richness (SR) patterns of European land plants, we determine whether SR increases with decreasing latitude, as predicted by theory, and whether the assembly mechanisms differ among taxonomic groups. SR increases towards the south in spermatophytes, but towards the north in ferns and bryophytes. SR patterns in spermatophytes are consistent with their patterns of beta diversity, with high levels of nestedness and turnover in the north and in the south, respectively, indicating species exclusion towards the north and increased opportunities for speciation in the south. Liverworts exhibit the highest levels of nestedness, suggesting that they represent the most sensitive group to the impact of past climate change. Nevertheless, although the extent of liverwort species turnover in the south is substantially and significantly lower than in spermatophytes, liverworts share with the latter a higher nestedness in the north and a higher turn-over in the south, in contrast to mosses and ferns. The extent to which the similarity in the patterns displayed by spermatophytes and liverworts reflects a similar assembly mechanism remains, however, to be demonstrated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Biophore, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland.|Institute of Botany, University of Liège, B-4000, Liège, Belgium.|Institute of Environmental Sciences, University of Castilla-La Mancha, ES-45071, Toledo, Spain.
authors.forename: Rubén G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Mateo
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Biophore, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Broennimann
authors.affiliation: Section for Ecoinformatics &Biodiversity, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 114, DK-8000, Aarhus C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Signe
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Normand
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Biophore, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Blaise
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Petitpierre
authors.affiliation: Department of Biogeography and Global Change, National Museum of Natural Sciences (CSIC), ES-28006, Madrid, Spain.|InBIO/CIBIO, University of Évora, Largo dos Colegiais, 7000, Évora, Portugal.|Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Miguel B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Araújo
authors.affiliation: Section for Ecoinformatics &Biodiversity, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 114, DK-8000, Aarhus C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Jens-C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Svenning
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology and Physical Anthropology, University of Santiago de Compostela, ES-15782, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
authors.forename: Andrés
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baselga
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Sciences, University of Castilla-La Mancha, ES-45071, Toledo, Spain.
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fernández-González
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics, University of Castilla-La Mancha, ES-02071, Albacete, Spain.
authors.forename: Virgilio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gómez-Rubio
authors.affiliation: Real Jardí n Botá nico (CSIC), ES-28014, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Muñoz
authors.affiliation: CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e I.M.L, UNT, Universidad Nacional de Tucamán, 4000, Tucumán, Argentina.
authors.forename: Guillermo M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Suarez
authors.affiliation: Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Miska
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Luoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Biophore, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Guisan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Botany, University of Liège, B-4000, Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vanderpoorten
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D005843:Geography; D063245:Plant Development; D010944:Plants / Q000145:classification*