Os padrões geográficos da evolução dos pinguins

Abstract

Penguins are seabirds found only in the southern hemisphere and have existed since the late Creta-ceous. They are animals that inhabit different places from the polar cold, pass through temperate climates and reach the Equator. In addition, these birds have great dispersion capacity, which raises the question of why penguins do not occur in the northern hemisphere. They are birds that are easily distinguished from others because they have specialized characteristics for cold climates, unlike any other group and must have some phylogenetic niche conservation degree. Therefore, it may be that habitat limitation prevents penguins reaching the northern hemisphere. To answer these questions, we built a robust database with presence and absence data and temperature and marine productivity variables for analysis. We use modeling and phylogenetic niche conservation tests. We found the highest suitability frequency in the southern hemisphere, although there are suitable locations in the northern hemisphere. The phylogenetic conservation rate was intermediate and may be related to the northern hemisphere absence of penguins.