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Download Biological Diversity - New York State Museum

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A<br />

MONG MANY OF THE ENDANGERED FISH<br />

IN NEW YORK STATE ARE THE SHORT-NOSED<br />

STURGEON (PICTURED BELOW) AND THE<br />

EASTERN SAND DARTER. THE NOW-EXTINCT<br />

BLUE PIKE LOOKS VERY MUCH LIKE THE STILL-<br />

ABUNDANT WALLEYE, AND AS RECENTLY AS<br />

THE 1970S IT WAS A MAJOR COMMERCIAL FISH.<br />

The reason for the concentration of terrestrial diversity in rainforests and their<br />

marine equivalent in the coral reefs is one of the great unknowns of ecology. The concentration<br />

is actually the result of a more or less continuous increase in diversity<br />

encountered while traveling from the poles to the equator, the so-called latitudinal<br />

gradient of biodiversity. When biologists say “unknown” in this particular case, they<br />

really mean “not known with certainty.” Several hypotheses have been advanced,<br />

any one of which—or all of which—could be true to some extent. I am going to<br />

take a deep breath and try to impart the most likely explanation from a synthesis<br />

of these hypotheses, with due respect to current evidence:<br />

B i o l o g i c a l<br />

20 D i v e r s i t y

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