Ecological specialization and population size in a biodiversity hotspot: how rare species avoid extinction.

Species with narrow environmental niches typically have small geographic ranges. Small range size is, in turn, often associated with low local abundance. Together, these factors should mean that ecological specialists have very small total populations, putting them at high risk of extinction. But some specialized and geographically restricted species are ancient, and some ecological communities have high proportions of rare and specialized endemics. We studied niche characteristics and patterns of distribution and abundance of terrestrial vertebrates in the rainforests of the Australian Wet Tropics (AWT) to identify mechanisms by which rare species might resist extinction. We show that species with narrow environmental niches and small geographic ranges tend to have high and uniform local abundances. The compensation of geographic rarity by local abundance is exact, such that total population size in the rainforest vertebrates of the AWT is independent of environmental specialization. This effect would tend to help equalize extinction risk for specialists and generalists. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that environmental specialists have been gradually accumulating in this fauna, indicating that small range size/environmental specialization can be a successful trait as long as it is compensated for by demographic commonness. These results provide an explanation of how range-restricted specialists can persist for long periods, so that they now form a major component of high-diversity assemblages such as the AWT.

Diversification patterns of pebble-mimic dragons are consistent with historical disruption of important habitat corridors in arid Australia.

The pebble-mimic dragon lineage of Tympanocryptis is widely distributed in the stony, or 'gibber', deserts of Australia but is noticeably absent from intersecting areas of sand deserts. Past fluctuations in the extent and configuration of sandy desert habitat barriers are likely to have been an import factor promoting genetic differentiation in this group. We sequenced a approximately 1400bp region of mitochondrial DNA and a approximately 1400bp nuclear gene (RAG-1) to investigate phylogeographic structuring of species of pebble-mimic dragons. Our topology indicates an early split in this lineage between eastern and western parts of the arid zone that probably dates to the mid-Miocene. This split corresponds directly with large expanses of contemporary sandy habitat in the form of Great Sandy and Great Victoria Deserts. Our data indicate that this biogeographic barrier established very early on in the development of the arid zone and has persisted to present. Additional genetic structuring in the absence of recognized barriers suggests that an expanded view of potential habitat barriers in the arid zone is required.