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Summary: Kinetic effects of temperature on rates of genetic
divergence and speciation
Andrew P. Allen*
, James F. Gillooly
, Van M. Savage§
, and James H. Brown¶
*National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, 735 State Street, Suite 300, Santa Barbara, CA 93101; Department of Zoology, University of Florida,
Gainesville, FL 32611; §Bauer Center for Genomics Research, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02138; and ¶Department of Biology, University of New Mexico,
Albuquerque, NM 87131
Contributed by James H. Brown, May 2, 2006
Latitudinal gradients of biodiversity and macroevolutionary dy-
namics are prominent yet poorly understood. We derive a model
that quantifies the role of kinetic energy in generating biodiver-
sity. The model predicts that rates of genetic divergence and
speciation are both governed by metabolic rate and therefore
show the same exponential temperature dependence (activation
energy of 0.65 eV; 1 eV 1.602 10 19 J). Predictions are
supported by global datasets from planktonic foraminifera for
rates of DNA evolution and speciation spanning 30 million years.
As predicted by the model, rates of speciation increase toward the
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