Support for the elevational Rapoport's rule among seed plants in Nepal depends on biogeographical affinities and boundary effects

Abstract

As one of the most important hypotheses on biogeographical distribution, Rapoport's rule has attracted attention around the world. However, it is unclear whether the applicability of the elevational Rapoport's Rule differs between organisms from different biogeographical regions. We used Stevens’ method, which uses species diversity and the averaged range sizes of all species within each (100 m) elevational band to explore diversity‐elevation, range‐elevation, and diversity‐range relationships. We compared support for the elevational Rapoport's rule between tropical and temperate species of seed plants in Nepal. Neither tropical nor temperate species supported the predictions of the elevational Rapoport's rule along the elevation gradient of 100–6,000 m a.s.l. for any of the studied relationships. However, along the smaller 1,000–5,000 m a.s.l. gradient (4,300 m a.s.l. for range‐elevation relationships) which is thought to be less influenced by boundary effects, we observed consistent support for the rule by tropical species, although temperate species did not show consistent support. The degree of support for the elevational Rapoport's rule may not only be influenced by hard boundary effects, but also by the biogeographical affinities of the focal taxa. With ongoing global warming and increasing variability of temperature in high‐elevation regions, tropical taxa may shift upward into higher elevations and expand their elevational ranges, causing the loss of temperate taxa diversity. Relevant studies on the elevational Rapoport's rule with regard to biogeographical affinities may be a promising avenue to further our understanding of this rule.