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The latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) is the most pervasive large-scale biotic pattern on Earth. To better understand the LDG, scientists use marine bivalves as a model system, and draw on other systems where possible. They review paleobiologic and biogeographic support for two supposedly opposing views, that the LDG is shaped primarily by (a) local environmental factors that determine the number of species and higher taxa at a given latitude (in situ hypotheses) or (b) the entry of lineages arising elsewhere into a focal region (spatial dynamics hypotheses). [Source: The American Naturalist]
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