Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40849311›Full record

ArticleNature communications2025

Evolutionary age correlates with range size across plants and animals.

Adriana Alzate, Roberto Rozzi, Julian A Velasco, D Ross Robertson, Alexander Zizka, Joseph A Tobias, Adrian Hill, Christine D Bacon, Thijs Janzen, Loïc Pellissier and 3 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors.

Adriana AlzateGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle - Jena - Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany. adria.alzate@gmail.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8236-6510
Roberto RozziGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle - Jena - Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7325-8019
Julian A VelascoInstituto de Ciencias de la Atmósfera y Cambio Climático, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2183-5758
D Ross RobertsonSmithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Panama.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3972-149X
Alexander ZizkaDepartment of Biology, Philipps-University Marburg, Marburg, Germany.
Joseph A TobiasDepartment of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Ascot, United Kingdom.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2429-6179
Adrian HillDepartment of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Christine D BaconDepartment of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Thijs JanzenGroningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4162-1140
Loïc PellissierEcosystems & Landscape Evolution, Department of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2289-8259
Fons van der PlasPlant Ecology and Nature Conservation, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4680-543X
James RosindellDepartment of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Ascot, United Kingdom.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5060-9346
Renske E OnsteinGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle - Jena - Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2295-3510

Funding

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) DFG FZT 118, 202548816EC | Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation H2020) 101061723Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (Swiss National Science Foundation) No. 310030_188550Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (National Autonomous University of Mexico) IA206523Vetenskapsrådet (Swedish Research Council) 2017-04980, 2022-03927
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

More than 40 thousand species of plants and animals are facing extinction worldwide. Range size is one of the strongest determinants of extinction risk, but the causes underlying the wide variation in natural range sizes remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate how species' age is related to present-day range size for over 26,000 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, reef fishes, and plants. We show that, on average, older species have larger ranges across all groups except for marine mammals, but the strength of the age-range size relationship depends on taxonomic scale. Furthermore, while our results confirm the well-established pattern of smaller range sizes for species restricted to islands (compared to mainland) or with limited dispersal abilities (compared to good dispersers), we show that the correlation between species age and range size is stronger in these groups, suggesting that island dynamics and dispersal ability modulate this relationship. Our study reveals that species with small ranges, and thus increased extinction risk, tend to be restricted to islands, are poor dispersers, or have recently evolved.

Indexed as

Animal DistributionBiological EvolutionPlantsAnimalsBirdsExtinction, BiologicalFishesIslandsMammals

Identifiers

PMID40849311
PMCPMC12375016

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.