Document of bibliographic reference 254213

BibliographicReference record

Type

Bibliographic resource

Type of document

Journal article

BibLvlCode

AS

Title

Latitudinal diversity of sea anemones (Cnidaria: Actiniaria)

Abstract

We sought to determine if the global distribution of sea anemones (cnidarian order Actiniaria) conforms to the classic pattern of biogeography-taxon richness at the equator with attenuation toward the poles-a pattern that is derived almost entirely from data on terrestrial plants and animals. We plotted the empirical distribution of species occurrences in 10 degrees bands of latitude based on published information, then, using the Chao2 statistic, inferred the completeness of that inventory. We found the greatest species richness of sea anemones at 30-40 ° N and S, with lower numbers at tropical latitudes and the fewest species in polar areas. The Chao2 statistic allowed us to infer that the richness pattern we found is not due to particularly poor knowledge of tropical sea anemones. No 10 degrees band of latitude has less than 60% of the theoretical number of species known, but for only about half of them could we reject the null hypothesis (P = 0.05) that information is complete; anemone diversity is best documented at high latitudes. We infer that the 1089 valid species currently known constitute about 70% of the theoretical total of about 1500 species of Actiniaria. The distribution pattern of sea anemone species resembles that of planktonic foraminiferans and benthic marine algae, although planktonic bacteria, marine bivalves, and shallow and deep scleractinian corals show the terrestrial pattern of equatorial richness attenuating with latitude. Sea anemone species richness is complementary to that of scleractinian corals at many scales; our findings affirm it at the global scale.

WebOfScience code

https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/full-record/WOS:000319492100004

Bibliographic citation

Fautin, D.G.; Malarky, L.; Soberón, J. (2013). Latitudinal diversity of sea anemones (Cnidaria: Actiniaria). Biol. Bull. 224(2): 89-98

Topic

Marine

Is peer reviewed

true

Access rights

open access

Is accessible for free

true