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Home Q & A Board Biology-Related Homework Help Environmental and Conservation Biology
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dcarter08 dcarter08
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11 years ago
why does species richness decline along an equatorial-polar gradient?
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ratliff_tratliff_t
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11 years ago
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11 years ago
The easy answer is because you get almost zero at the poles, and tons at the equator.  That sets up the gradient.  The real question to ask is why is it richest at the equator, and not somewhere in between.  For that I would imagine that the amount of water and heat is fairly optimal along the equator.

For a more well informed opinion I found this reference for you.
-The Tropics as a Museum of Biological Diversity: An Analysis of the New World Avifauna.  Kevin J. Gaston and Tim M. Blackburn.  Proceedings: Biological Sciences, Vol. 263, No. 1366 (Jan. 22, 1996), pp. 63-68.

They have several references, and make this statement...
"The tropics ?represent a cradle of diversity exhibiting high origination rates [and] a museum of diversity with low extinction rates?"
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