Response to Qian et al (2017): Daily and seasonal climate variations are both critical in the evolution of species’ elevational range size


Journal article


Wei-ping Chan, I. Chen, R. K. Colwell, Wei-Chung Liu, Cho-ying Huang, S. Shen
2017

Semantic Scholar DOI
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APA   Click to copy
Chan, W.-ping, Chen, I., Colwell, R. K., Liu, W.-C., Huang, C.-ying, & Shen, S. (2017). Response to Qian et al (2017): Daily and seasonal climate variations are both critical in the evolution of species’ elevational range size.


Chicago/Turabian   Click to copy
Chan, Wei-ping, I. Chen, R. K. Colwell, Wei-Chung Liu, Cho-ying Huang, and S. Shen. “Response to Qian Et Al (2017): Daily and Seasonal Climate Variations Are Both Critical in the Evolution of Species’ Elevational Range Size” (2017).


MLA   Click to copy
Chan, Wei-ping, et al. Response to Qian Et Al (2017): Daily and Seasonal Climate Variations Are Both Critical in the Evolution of Species’ Elevational Range Size. 2017.


BibTeX   Click to copy

@article{wei-ping2017a,
  title = {Response to Qian et al (2017): Daily and seasonal climate variations are both critical in the evolution of species’ elevational range size},
  year = {2017},
  author = {Chan, Wei-ping and Chen, I. and Colwell, R. K. and Liu, Wei-Chung and Huang, Cho-ying and Shen, S.}
}

Abstract

In their recent critique, Qian et al. (2017) claimed that the results of structural equation modeling analysis (SEM) in Chan et al. (2016) were flawed. Here, we show that the source of the difference in their re-analysis is that Qian et al. did not follow the standard, iterative process of SEM, which allows researchers to evaluate which model offers the best account of the data in both absolute and relative senses. Here, we provide step-by-step instructions to reproduce our published results. All of Qian et al.’s concerns regarding SEM can be put to rest. Moreover, in our original paper we used three distinct statistical methods—hierarchical partitioning, SEM, and stationary bootstrap—to show that different temporal scales of environmental variability can differentially impact the elevational range size (ERS) of species. It is time to move on to probing the pressing issue of how and why climatic variability impacts ERS.