Response to Comment on "The Latitudinal Gradient in Recent Speciation and Extinction Rates of Birds and Mammals"

Abstract

Tobias et al . suggest that taxonomic uncertainty, an underestimated correction for the lag-time to speciation, and the sister-species method undermine our estimates of speciation rates at tropical latitudes. However, our estimates incorporated a correction for taxonomic uncertainty and are robust to small increases in the lag-time correction. Contrary to the claim of Tobias et al ., we find no indication that the sister-species method underestimates tropical diversification rates.