Phylogenetic diversity metrics for ecological communities: integrating species richness, abundance and evolutionary history

2010 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc W. Cadotte ◽  
T. Jonathan Davies ◽  
James Regetz ◽  
Steven W. Kembel ◽  
Elsa Cleland ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Phylogenetic Diversity ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Diversity Metrics

scholarly journals Evolutionary history determines how plant productivity responds to phylogenetic diversity and species richness

PeerJ ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. e288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark A. Genung ◽  
Jennifer A. Schweitzer ◽  
Joseph K. Bailey
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Phylogenetic Diversity ◽  
Plant Productivity

Speciation, Extinction, and the Distribution of Phylogenetic Diversity

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc W. Cadotte ◽  
T. Jonathan Davies
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Spatial Variation ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Phylogenetic Diversity ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Conservation Strategy ◽  
Large Species ◽  
Small Species ◽  
Phylogenetic Methods ◽  
Diversity Of Life

This chapter examines the use of phylogenetic methods to explain macroevolutionary trends in speciation, extinction, and the distribution of phylogenetic diversity across space and through time. The diversity of life is unevenly distributed across the globe. Species richness tends to be higher at lower latitudes and elevations, and the distribution of life forms also varies across space. For example, Foster's rule suggests that on islands small species evolve to become bigger, while large species evolve to become smaller. Equally, the distribution of evolutionary history shows large spatial variation, reflecting the histories of speciation, extinction, and dispersal. This chapter first considers how large, global phylogenies make it possible to map the distribution of phylogenetic diversity and develop a conservation strategy to maximize coverage of the tree of life. It then discusses the variation in diversification across spatiotemporal gradients and shows that phylogenetic diversity covaries significantly with taxonomic richness.

scholarly journals Patch size and vegetation structure drive changes to mixed-species flock diversity and composition across a gradient of fragment sizes in the Western Andes of Colombia

The Condor ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 122 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Harrison H Jones ◽  
Scott K Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Functional Diversity ◽  
Edge Effects ◽  
Vegetation Structure ◽  
Phylogenetic Diversity ◽  
Patch Size ◽  
Forest Edge ◽  
Mixed Species ◽  
Functional And Phylogenetic Diversity ◽  
Diversity Metrics

Abstract Forest fragmentation is a leading driver of biodiversity loss, yet its effects on positive species interactions remain poorly known. We examined the effects of fragmentation on mixed-species bird flocks in the Western Andes of Colombia. Using 500-m transect surveys (n = 14 transects), we sampled flocks in 8 fragments (range: 10–173 ha) and an unfragmented reference site within the same altitudinal band (1,900–2,200 m.a.s.l.) and matrix type (cattle pasture). We evaluated the relative contributions of 9 predictor variables, including patch size, distance from edge, and selective aspects of vegetation structure on the composition, size, species richness, functional diversity, and phylogenetic diversity of flocks. We found effects of both patch size and vegetation structure on flock species richness, size, and functional diversity, but no support for edge effects. Generally, flock richness and size responded differently to fragmentation than did functional and phylogenetic diversity metrics. Both flock size and richness increased with patch size, but this variable had no effect on functional and phylogenetic diversity. Flock richness and size increased in high-canopy forests with greater foliage height diversity, whereas unlogged, old-growth primary forests with large-diameter trees had lower flock richness and size, but significantly greater functional diversity. Phylogenetic diversity was not affected by patch size, edge effects, or vegetation structure. We found differences in flock composition in response to fragmentation. Richness of Furnariidae in flocks increased with increasing distance from edge and foliage height diversity, whereas that of Thraupidae and boreal migrant species increased in early successional and forest edge flocks, respectively. All flock diversity metrics differed significantly seasonally, with smaller, less diverse flocks observed in January–March than in June–August. Flocking behavior persisted in 10-ha fragments, likely because Andean flocks are “open membership” in nature, but there was extensive species turnover as forest edge and generalist species replaced forest-interior species in smaller fragments.

Connecting plant evolutionary history and human well-being at Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

2020 ◽  
Vol 194 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-409
Author(s):  
Rafael Molina-Venegas ◽  
Markus Fischer ◽  
Neduvoto Piniel Mollel ◽  
Andreas Hemp
Keyword(s):  
Human Disturbance ◽  
Anthropogenic Disturbance ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Phylogenetic Diversity ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Useful Plants ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
Evolutionary Lineages ◽  
Diversity Metrics

Abstract Evolution is the source of all living organisms and hence the foundation for the ecosystem services that are directly supported by biodiversity. However, explicit connections between evolutionary history and human well-being are barely explored. Here, we focus on ethnobotanical data from Mt. Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) to identify significant associations between plant evolutionary lineages and six previously recognized usage guilds in the mountain (i.e. fodder, building material, fuelwood, food, ornamental/shading and traditional medicine), and further characterize the degree of phylogenetic overlap between the guilds using beta diversity metrics. In addition, we also explore how phylogenetic diversity of usage guilds varied along elevation and between natural and anthropized habitats. Our results suggest that the inhabitants of Mt. Kilimanjaro rely on multiple and deep lineages that specifically provide a certain type of service, supporting the notion that an increased number of lineages captures more current biodiversity benefits. However, we also found a few lineages that provided multiple benefits, indicating that particular efforts should be pursued in preserving individual multi-functional lineages of the phylogeny. Elevation was the most important factor explaining phylogenetic diversity of useful plants, whereas the effect of anthropogenic disturbance was comparatively weak. However, after controlling for the effect of elevation, a moderate negative effect of human disturbance was revealed, particularly for medicinal plants. Phylogenetic diversity of most guilds showed hump-shaped curves with elevation, revealing a major reservoir of useful plant lineages in the highly threatened montane forests of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

scholarly journals Climate change impacts on the phylogenetic diversity of the world’s terrestrial birds: more than species numbers

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alke Voskamp ◽  
Christian Hof ◽  
Matthias F. Biber ◽  
Thomas Hickler ◽  
Aidin Niamir ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Species Richness ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Phylogenetic Diversity ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Climate Impact ◽  
Species Assemblages ◽  
Potential Threat ◽  
Phylogenetic Structure ◽  
Species Numbers

AbstractOngoing climate change is a major threat to biodiversity and impacts on species distributions and abundances are already evident. Heterogenous responses of species due to varying abiotic tolerances and dispersal abilities have the potential to further amplify or ameliorate these impacts through changes in species assemblages. Here we investigate the impacts of climate change on terrestrial bird distributions and, subsequently, on species richness as well as on different aspects of phylogenetic diversity of species assemblages across the globe. We go beyond previous work by disentangling the potential impacts on assemblage phylogenetic diversity of species gains vs. losses under climate change and compare the projected impacts to randomized assemblage changes.We show that climate change might not only affect species numbers and composition of global species assemblages but could also have profound impacts on assemblage phylogenetic diversity, which, across extensive areas, differ significantly from random changes. Both the projected impacts on phylogenetic diversity and on phylogenetic structure vary greatly across the globe. Projected increases in the evolutionary history contained within species assemblages, associated with either increasing phylogenetic diversification or clustering, are most frequent at high northern latitudes. By contrast, projected declines in evolutionary history, associated with increasing phylogenetic over-dispersion or homogenisation, are projected across all continents.The projected widespread changes in the phylogenetic structure of species assemblages show that changes in species richness do not fully reflect the potential threat from climate change to ecosystems. Our results indicate that the most severe changes to the phylogenetic diversity and structure of species assemblages are likely to be caused by species range shifts rather than range reductions and extinctions. Our findings highlight the importance of considering diverse measures in climate impact assessments and the value of integrating species-specific responses into assessments of entire community changes.

scholarly journals Potential and Limitations of Grasslands α-Diversity Prediction Using Fine-Scale Hyperspectral Imagery

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 2649
Author(s):  
Hafiz Ali Imran ◽  
Damiano Gianelle ◽  
Michele Scotton ◽  
Duccio Rocchini ◽  
Michele Dalponte ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Hyperspectral Data ◽  
Hyperspectral Images ◽  
Grassland Species ◽  
Biodiversity Indices ◽  
Grassland Ecosystems ◽  
Natural Grasslands ◽  
Α Diversity ◽  
Diversity Metrics

Plant biodiversity is an important feature of grassland ecosystems, as it is related to the provision of many ecosystem services crucial for the human economy and well-being. Given the importance of grasslands, research has been carried out in recent years on the potential to monitor them with novel remote sensing techniques. In this study, the optical diversity (also called spectral diversity) approach was adopted to check the potential of using high-resolution hyperspectral images to estimate α-diversity in grassland ecosystems. In 2018 and 2019, grassland species composition was surveyed and canopy hyperspectral data were acquired at two grassland sites: Monte Bondone (IT-MBo; species-rich semi-natural grasslands) and an experimental farm of the University of Padova, Legnaro, Padua, Italy (IT-PD; artificially established grassland plots with a species-poor mixture). The relationship between biodiversity (species richness, Shannon’s, species evenness, and Simpson’s indices) and optical diversity metrics (coefficient of variation-CV and standard deviation-SD) was not consistent across the investigated grassland plant communities. Species richness could be estimated by optical diversity metrics with an R = 0.87 at the IT-PD species-poor site. In the more complex and species-rich grasslands at IT-MBo, the estimation of biodiversity indices was more difficult and the optical diversity metrics failed to estimate biodiversity as accurately as in IT-PD probably due to the higher number of species and the strong canopy spatial heterogeneity. Therefore, the results of the study confirmed the ability of spectral proxies to detect grassland α-diversity in man-made grassland ecosystems but highlighted the limitations of the spectral diversity approach to estimate biodiversity when natural grasslands are observed. Nevertheless, at IT-MBo, the optical diversity metric SD calculated from post-processed hyperspectral images and transformed spectra showed, in the red part of the spectrum, a significant correlation (up to R = 0.56, p = 0.004) with biodiversity indices. Spatial resampling highlighted that for the IT-PD sward the optimal optical pixel size was 1 cm, while for the IT-MBo natural grassland it was 1 mm. The random pixel extraction did not improve the performance of the optical diversity metrics at both study sites. Further research is needed to fully understand the links between α-diversity and spectral and biochemical heterogeneity in complex heterogeneous ecosystems, and to assess whether the optical diversity approach can be adopted at the spatial scale to detect β-diversity. Such insights will provide more robust information on the mechanisms linking grassland diversity and optical heterogeneity.

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