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Plants and animals living in warm, tropical climates evolve faster than those living in more temperate zones, a new study suggests.

The finding, detailed in Tuesday's issue of the journal for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could help explain why rainforests have such rich biodiversity compared with other parts of the planet.

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To investigate the reasons for this trend, Shane Wright of the University of Auckland in New Zealand and colleagues looked at the rate of molecular evolution for 45 tropical plants and compared it to that of related species living at more temperate latitudes.

The researchers examined the rate at which DNA bases in the plants' genetic code are substituted. Like characters in a four-letter alphabet, bases are DNA molecules arranged to spell out instructions for building proteins. If one of the letters — A, T, G or C — become substituted with another, the instructions can change and a dysfunctional or entirely new and useful protein can be produced.

The researchers found that tropical plants had more than twice the rate of base substitution compared to their temperate cousins.

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The finding supports a theory put forth by biologist Klaus Rohde in 1992 that climate can have a powerful effect on how fast organisms evolve and branch off into new species.

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Originally posted by Cuneiformist

Well, maybe, pleco. Another possibility, though, is that the Designer likes to hang out in the tropics more, and so He tinkers more frequently with the plants and animals there. At least, that's my theory. I'm going to test it as soon as I get an interview with the Designer.

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