We use the Chowdhury ecosystem model, one of the most complex agent-based
ecological models, to test the latitude-niche breadth hypothesis, with regard
to habitat width, i.e., whether tropical species generally have narrower
habitats than high latitude ones. Application of the model has given realistic
results in previous studies on latitudinal gradients in species diversity and
Rapoport's rule. Here we show that tropical species with sufficient vagility
and time to spread into adjacent habitats, tend to have wider habitats than
high latitude ones, contradicting the latitude-niche breadth hypothesis.Comment: 13 pages including all figures, draft for a biology journa