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| It is widely believed that contemporary climate determines large-scale patterns of species richness. An alternative
view proposes that species richness reflects biotic responses to historic climate changes. These competing
‘‘contemporary climate’’ vs ‘‘historic climate’’ hypotheses have been vigorously debated without reaching
consensus. Here, we test the proposition that European species richness of reptiles and amphibians is driven by
climate changes in the Quaternary. We find that climate stability between the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM)
and the present day is a better predictor of species richness than contemporary climate; and that the 08C
isotherm of the LGM delimits the distributions of narrow-ranging species, whereas the current 08C isotherm
limits the distributions of wide-ranging species. Our analyses contradict previous studies of large-scale species
richness patterns and support the view that ‘‘historic climate’’ can contribute to current species richness
independently of and at least as much as contemporary climate. | |
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