CONSERVATION is a global issue, yet our understanding of Earth’s biodiversity remains only limited.
Biologists tend to rely on basic rules of thumb to help them comprehend why certain species live where they do, but an analysis of the prevalence of 9500 bird species reveals that one of the main tenets of biodiversity, known as Rapoport’s rule, is less accurate than we thought (see Map).
The rule states that the further you are from the equator, the greater the area over which any given native animal or plant will be found. While the rule holds true for some regions,…
