• Morphological diversity (disparity) is an essential but often neglected aspect of biodiversity. Hence, it seems timely and promising to re‐emphasize morphology in modern evolutionary studies. Disparity is a good proxy for the diversity of functions and interactions with the environment of a group of taxa. In addition, geographical and ecological patterns of disparity are crucial to understand organismal evolution and to guide biodiversity conservation efforts.
• Here, we analyse floral disparity across latitudinal intervals, growth forms, climate types, types of habitats, and regions for a large and representative sample of the angiosperm order Ericales.
• We find a latitudinal gradient of floral disparity and a decoupling of disparity from species richness. Other factors investigated are intercorrelated, and we find the highest disparity for tropical trees growing in African and South American forests.
• Explanations for the latitudinal gradient of floral disparity may involve the release of abiotic constraints and the increase of biotic interactions towards tropical latitudes, allowing tropical lineages to explore a broader area of the floral morphospace. Our study confirms the relevance of biodiversity parameters other than species richness and is consistent with the importance of species interactions in the tropics, in particular with respect to angiosperm flowers and their pollinators.

中文翻译：

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全球格局和花差距的纬度梯度：从被子植物顺序埃里卡莱斯的角度来看

• 形态多样性（差异）是生物多样性的一个基本但经常被忽视的方面。因此，在现代进化研究中重新强调形态学似乎是及时且有希望的。差异是功能多样性以及与一组分类单元环境之间相互作用的良好代表。此外，差异的地理和生态格局对于理解生物进化和指导生物多样性保护工作至关重要。
• 在这里，我们分析了被子植物有序植物埃里卡利斯的横向分布，生长形式，气候类型，生境类型和区域之间的花卉差异。
• 我们发现花卉差异的纬度梯度和物种丰富度之间的差异解耦。研究的其他因素是相互关联的，我们发现非洲和南美森林中生长的热带树木之间的差异最大。
• 关于花卉差异的纬度梯度的解释可能涉及释放非生物限制和增加对热带纬度的生物相互作用，从而使热带谱系能够探索花卉形态空间的更广阔区域。我们的研究证实了除物种丰富度以外的生物多样性参数的相关性，并且与热带地区物种相互作用的重要性相一致，特别是在被子植物花及其授粉媒介方面。