Abstract
Traditional attempts to delineate floristic regions typically focus on species distributions, often ignoring the rich context that phylogenetic relationships can provide. In this study, we explore how phylogenetic relatedness, taxonomic composition, and regional phylogenetic structure change across a global biodiversity hotspot region, Yunnan, located in southwestern China. We propose a system of floristic regions within Yunnan by combining data on the distributions and phylogenetic relationships of 1,983 genera of native seed plants. We identified eight distinct floristic regions in Yunnan, which were grouped into two larger northern and southern geographical units. Phylogenetic relatedness was well correlated with taxonomic composition between floras in Yunnan. Across the Yunnan region we examined, the central Yunnan region shows the lowest level of spatial turnover in phylogenetic relationships and taxonomic composition of the floristic assemblages. Using null model analyses, we found evidence of nonrandom phylogenetic structure across the region, in which four areas show higher phylogenetic turnover than expected given the underlying taxonomic composition between sites. Our results show that the integration of phylogenetic information can provide valuable insight in floristic assessments, and help us to better understand the structure of a global biodiversity hotspot.
Highlights
Traditional attempts to delineate floristic regions typically focus on species distributions, often ignoring the rich context that phylogenetic relationships can provide
Across the Yunnan region we examined, the central Yunnan region shows the lowest level of spatial turnover in phylogenetic relationships and taxonomic composition of the floristic assemblages
The spatial turnover in taxonomic composition and phylogenetic composition of floristic assemblages is generally low in central Yunnan
Summary
Traditional attempts to delineate floristic regions typically focus on species distributions, often ignoring the rich context that phylogenetic relationships can provide. Based on the similarity of floristic assemblages and the degree of endemism, hierarchical floristic regions have been proposed for the world’s flora[3] and East Asian plants[4] These floristic regions represent a fundamental categorization of the geographical organization of plant life on Earth, and provide spatially explicit frameworks for many broad-scale ecological and evolutionary studies[5,6,7]. Yunnan was divided into five floristic regions based on field surveys and expert opinion[24], but a more recent analysis divides Yunnan into seven floristic regions based on the modelled distribution patterns of woody plant species[25] This region has not been analyzed from a phylogenetic perspective, so we lack an understanding of the critical evolutionary dimension of floristic diversity in this area
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