scholarly journals Peer Review #1 of "Evolutionary patterns of range size, abundance and species richness in Amazonian angiosperm trees (v0.2)"

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Peer Review ◽  
Range Size ◽  
Evolutionary Patterns

scholarly journals Evolutionary patterns of range size, abundance and species richness in Amazonian trees

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle Dexter ◽  
Jérôme Chave
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Phylogenetic Signal ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Range Size ◽  
Biological Traits ◽  
Evolutionary Patterns ◽  
Phylogenetically Independent Contrasts ◽  
Significant Negative Relationship ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Amazonian Trees

Amazonian tree species vary enormously in their total abundance and range size, while Amazonian tree genera vary greatly in species richness. Here, we construct a phylogenetic hypothesis that represents half of Amazonian tree genera in order to analyse evolutionary patterns of range size, abundance, and species richness. We find several clear, broad-scale patterns. Firstly, there is significant phylogenetic signal for all three characteristics, i.e. closely related genera tend to have similar numbers of species and similar mean range size and abundance. Additionally, the species richness of genera shows a significant, negative relationship with the mean range size and abundance of their constituent species, while mean range size and abundance are significantly, positively correlated. These correlations are stronger in the raw data, but still significant when using phylogenetically independent contrasts. We suggest that tree stature and/or other phylogenetically related biological traits underlie these results. Lineages comprised of small-statured trees show greater species richness and smaller range sizes and abundances. Lastly, the phylogenetic signal that we evidence for range size suggests that should many small ranged species go extinct, greater phylogenetic diversity may be lost than expected if range size were distributed randomly across the phylogeny.

scholarly journals Evolutionary patterns of range size, abundance and species richness in Amazonian trees

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle Dexter ◽  
Jérôme Chave
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Phylogenetic Signal ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Range Size ◽  
Biological Traits ◽  
Evolutionary Patterns ◽  
Phylogenetically Independent Contrasts ◽  
Significant Negative Relationship ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Amazonian Trees

Amazonian tree species vary enormously in their total abundance and range size, while Amazonian tree genera vary greatly in species richness. Here, we construct a phylogenetic hypothesis that represents half of Amazonian tree genera in order to analyse evolutionary patterns of range size, abundance, and species richness. We find several clear, broad-scale patterns. Firstly, there is significant phylogenetic signal for all three characteristics, i.e. closely related genera tend to have similar numbers of species and similar mean range size and abundance. Additionally, the species richness of genera shows a significant, negative relationship with the mean range size and abundance of their constituent species, while mean range size and abundance are significantly, positively correlated. These correlations are stronger in the raw data, but still significant when using phylogenetically independent contrasts. We suggest that tree stature and/or other phylogenetically related biological traits underlie these results. Lineages comprised of small-statured trees show greater species richness and smaller range sizes and abundances. Lastly, the phylogenetic signal that we evidence for range size suggests that should many small ranged species go extinct, greater phylogenetic diversity may be lost than expected if range size were distributed randomly across the phylogeny.

scholarly journals Evolutionary patterns of range size, abundance and species richness in Amazonian angiosperm trees

PeerJ ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. e2402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle Dexter ◽  
Jérôme Chave
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Phylogenetic Signal ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Range Size ◽  
Evolutionary Patterns ◽  
Intrinsic Factors ◽  
Significant Negative Relationship ◽  
Amazonian Trees

Amazonian tree species vary enormously in their total abundance and range size, while Amazonian tree genera vary greatly in species richness. The drivers of this variation are not well understood. Here, we construct a phylogenetic hypothesis that represents half of Amazonian tree genera in order to contribute to explaining the variation. We find several clear, broad-scale patterns. Firstly, there is significant phylogenetic signal for all three characteristics; closely related genera tend to have similar numbers of species and similar mean range size and abundance. Additionally, the species richness of genera shows a significant, negative relationship with the mean range size and abundance of their constituent species. Our results suggest that phylogenetically correlated intrinsic factors, namely traits of the genera themselves, shape among lineage variation in range size, abundance and species richness. We postulate that tree stature may be one particularly relevant trait. However, other traits may also be relevant, and our study reinforces the need for ambitious compilations of trait data for Amazonian trees. In the meantime, our study shows how large-scale phylogenies can help to elucidate, and contribute to explaining, macroecological and macroevolutionary patterns in hyperdiverse, yet poorly understood regions like the Amazon Basin.

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