Patterns Of Phylogenetic Diversity Research Articles

Cushions serve as conservation refuges for the Himalayan alpine plant diversity: Implications for nature-based environmental management

Globally, rapid climate and land-use changes in alpine environments are posing severe risks to their bountiful biodiversity and ecosystem services. Currently, nature-based solutions are fast-emerging as the preferred approach to address the challenges of environmental sustainability. In alpine environments, cushion plants owing to their unique architecture and adaptability offer a potential nature-based system to plan biodiversity conservation and habitat restoration strategies. Here, we employed an analytical framework to test whether and how the cushion plants facilitate the sustenance of alpine plant diversity in Kashmir Himalaya. We specifically aimed to answer: what are the effects of the cushion plants on the patterns of alpine species richness and phylogenetic diversity, and whether these effects vary across spatial scales (local versus landscape), cushion types, and changing elevation. We randomly selected pairs of cushion and neighbouring non-cushion plots (size 100 m2) across 34 different alpine sites in the study region. Within each plot, we randomly laid three 5 m2 quadrats for vegetation sampling, and sampled a total of 204 quadrats in 68 plots with seven cushion types along elevation ranging from 3100 to 3850 m. Our results revealed positive effects of the cushions by supporting a higher community species richness (SR) and phylogenetic diversity (PD). The effects were consistent both at the local (i.e., quadrat) and landscape (i.e., plot) scales, but varied significantly with the cushion type. Interestingly, SR and PD showed an increasing trend with increase in elevation in cushion communities, thereby supporting stress gradient hypothesis. Along the elevational gradient, the cushion communities showed phylogenetic overdispersion, but clustering by non-cushions. Overall, our study provides empirical evidence to reinforce the role of the cushions as conservation refugia for an imperilled alpine plant diversity in the Himalaya. Looking ahead, we highlight the far-reaching implications of our findings in guiding the nature-based environmental management of alpine ecosystems worldwide.

Climate-driven shifts in the diversity of plants in the Neotropical seasonally dry forest: Evaluating the effectiveness of protected areas.

Given the current environmental crisis, biodiversity protection is one of the most urgent socio-environmental priorities. However, the effectiveness of protected areas (PAs), the primary strategy for safeguarding ecosystems, is challenged by global climate change (GCC), with evidence showing that species are shifting their distributions into new areas, causing novel species assemblages. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate PAs' present and future effectiveness for biodiversity under the GCC. Here, we analyzed changes in the spatiotemporal patterns of taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity (PD) of plants associated with the Neotropical seasonally dry forest (NSDF) under GCC scenarios. We modeled the climatic niche of over 1000 plant species in five representative families (in terms of abundance, dominance, and endemism) of the NSDF. We predicted their potential distributions in the present and future years (2040, 2060, and 2080) based on an intermediate scenario of shared socio-economic pathways (SSP 3.70), allowing species to disperse to new sites or constrained to the current distribution. Then, we tested if the current PAs network represents the taxonomic and phylogenetic diversities. Our results suggest that GCC could promote novel species assemblages with local responses (communities' modifications) across the biome. In general, models predicted losses in the taxonomic and phylogenetic diversities of all the five plant families analyzed across the distribution of the NSDF. However, in the northern floristic groups (i.e., Antilles and Mesoamerica) of the NSDF, taxonomic and PD will be stable in GCC projections. In contrast, across the NSDF in South America, some cores will lose diversity while others will gain diversity under GCC scenarios. PAs in some NSDF regions appeared insufficient to protect the NSDF diversity. Thus, there is an urgent need to assess how the PA system could be better reconfigured to warrant the protection of the NSDF.

Geographic patterns and environmental correlates of taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional β-diversity of wetland plants in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) harbours the largest wetland complex in China, with a relatively high diversity of wetland plants. While there has been extensive research on the α-diversity of various plant groups in the QTP, the study of β-diversity specifically in wetland plants has been limited. In this study, we quantified the geographic pattern of wetland plant β-diversity from three dimensions: taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional. We assessed the relative importance of geographic distance, climatic distance, environmental distance and topographic distance on the pattern of β-diversity. The results indicate a high consistency in the geographic pattern of wetland plant β-diversity across the three dimensions. β-diversity is high in the mountainous regions at the edge of the plateau and relatively low in the plateau platform. The turnover component contributes more to taxonomic β-diversity than nestedness, whereas the opposite is true for phylogenetic and functional β-diversity. Furthermore, taxonomic β-diversity is higher than phylogenetic and functional β-diversity. The geographic patterns of taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity of wetland plants in the QTP are jointly influenced by environmental filtering and dispersal limitation. Climatic variables (temperature seasonality, annual precipitation, precipitation seasonality and annual mean temperature) and topographic variables (elevation variation coefficient, elevation and slope) were identified as the main factors influencing wetland plant β-diversity in the QTP. Overall, this study contributes to elucidating the evolutionary history and formation mechanisms of wetland plant communities in the QTP, and reveals the large-scale patterns of wetland plant diversity.

Choice of molecular marker influences spatial patterns of phylogenetic diversity.

Spatial patterns of phylogenetic diversity (PD) are increasingly becoming relevant for conservation decisions. PD measures are based on phylogenies estimated from molecular data. This paper addresses the question of how different molecular markers impact PD spatial patterns. We first conducted a simple simulation to explore the effect of deep and shallow changes in topology (simulating variations in molecular markers), using ultrametric and non-ultrametric trees, and then used a dataset of Chilean flora with four sets of markers to assess potential differences in spatial patterns of PD ranks using different markers and types of trees. The simulation consistently showed that the difference in PD rank was lower for ultrametric trees than for phylograms. A similar trend was observed using the Chilean flora dataset, with among-markers variability in spatial patterns of the PD metrics lower for ultrametric than for non-ultrametric trees, depicted as top 2.5 and 5% hotspots. Frequency distribution of PD values differed among markers as well, with this variation less apparent for ultrametric trees. We conclude that the choice of markers impacts spatial patterns of PD, and these results vary more strongly for phylograms, suggesting that ultrametric trees are more robust to the choice of marker.

Forest disturbance increases functional diversity but decreases phylogenetic diversity of an arboreal tropical ant community.

Tropical rainforest trees host a diverse arthropod fauna that can be characterised by their functional diversity (FD) and phylogenetic diversity (PD). Human disturbance degrades tropical forests, often coinciding with species invasion and altered assembly that leads to a decrease in FD and PD. Tree canopies are thought to be particularly vulnerable, but rarely investigated. Here, we studied the effects of forest disturbance on an ecologically important invertebrate group, the ants, in a lowland rainforest in New Guinea. We compared an early successional disturbed plot (secondary forest) to an old-growth plot (primary forest) by exhaustively sampling their ant communities in a total of 852 trees. We expected that for each tree community (1) disturbance would decrease FD and PD in tree-dwelling ants, mediated through species invasion. (2) Disturbance would decrease ant trait variation due to a more homogeneous environment. (3) The main drivers behind these changes would be different contributions of true tree-nesting species and visiting species. We calculated FD and PD based on a species-level phylogeny and 10 ecomorphological traits. Furthermore, we assessed by data exclusion the influence of species, which were not nesting in individual trees (visitors) or only nesting species (nesters), and of non-native species on FD and PD. Primary forests had higher ant species richness and PD than secondary forest. However, we consistently found increased FD in secondary forest. This pattern was robust even if we decoupled functional and phylogenetic signals, or if non-native ant species were excluded from the data. Visitors did not contribute strongly to FD, but they increased PD and their community weighted trait means often varied from nesters. Moreover, all community-weighted trait means changed after forest disturbance. Our finding of contradictory FD and PD patterns highlights the importance of integrative measures of diversity. Our results indicate that the tree community trait diversity is not negatively affected, but possibly even enhanced by disturbance. Therefore, the functional diversity of arboreal ants is relatively robust when compared between old-growth and young trees. However, further study with higher plot-replication is necessary to solidify and generalise our findings.

All the Earth will not remember: how geographic gaps structure the record of diversity and extinction

Abstract We know the fossil record is incomplete, but just how much biodiversity does it miss? We produce the first geographically controlled estimate by comparing the geographic ranges of 34,266 modern tetrapods with a map of the world's sedimentary basins. By modeling which tetrapods live within sedimentary basins, we produce a first-order estimate of what might be found in the fossil record of the future. In this record, nearly 30% of tetrapod species have almost no chance of fossilizing, and more stringent criteria for fossilization exclude far more diversity. This geographically structured fossil record preserves disparate patterns of taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity in different tetrapod groups and underpreserves projected extinctions. For the globally threatened amphibians, the magnitude of the extinction of all endangered species would be underestimated by 66–98% in our future record. These results raise profound questions about the structure of the fossil record. Is it capable of recording major origination and extinction events on land? Have swaths of terrestrial diversity gone unrecorded based on geography alone? There are chapters of Earth history that paleontologists can never hope to know, but what is missing, and why?

Global multifaceted biodiversity patterns, centers, and conservation needs in angiosperms.

The Convention on Biological Diversity seeks to conserve at least 30% of global land and water areas by 2030, which is a challenge but also an opportunity to better preserve biodiversity, including flowering plants (angiosperms). Herein, we compiled a large database on distributions of over 300,000 angiosperm species and the key functional traits of 67,024 species. Using this database, we constructed biodiversity-environment models to predict global patterns of taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity in terrestrial angiosperms and provide a comprehensive mapping of the three diversity facets. We further evaluated the current protection status of the biodiversity centers of these diversity facets. Our results showed that geographical patterns of the three facets of plant diversity exhibited substantial spatial mismatches and nonoverlapping conservation priorities. Idiosyncratic centers of functional diversity, particularly of herbaceous species, were primarily distributed in temperate regions and under weaker protection compared with other biodiversity centers of taxonomic and phylogenetic facets. Our global assessment of multifaceted biodiversity patterns and centers highlights the insufficiency and unbalanced conservation among the three diversity facets and the two growth forms (woody vs. herbaceous), thus providing directions for guiding the future conservation of global plant diversity.

Multifaceted patterns of diversity and co-occurrence along an extensive survey of shrubland communities across China

Interpreting biodiversity patterns and the underlying processes is crucial for evaluating the mechanisms of community assembly, but the view of multifaceted diversity patterns spanning broad spatial extents is less strengthened. We implemented an inventory of 1260 vegetation plots from shrublands across China with standardized methods and analyzed patterns of taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity with differential weighting of common and rare species, as well as phylogenetic co-occurrence structures. Taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity were linearly correlated when common and rare species were weighted equally, but had a logarithmic correlation when species were weighted with their relative abundances. While most shrubland communities were phylogenetically unstructured, the correlation between taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity covaried with phylogenetic relatedness when incorporating relative abundance, but only weakly so in phylogenetically over-dispersed communities. When we correlated patterns of taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity with different weightings for common versus rare species, we found an important role for geographic (e.g., longitude, altitude), climatic (temperature, precipitation) and soil factors. The importance of underlying variables varied between facets of diversity. We found a strong role for altitude in taxonomic, but less so for phylogenetic diversity. Furthermore, the importance of several environmental drivers varied depending on whether diversity metrics were strongly influenced by rare species or put more weight on common and/or dominant species. Overall, our assessment highlights the importance of synthetic analyses of patterns and processes of different facets of biodiversity to capture the full complexity of diversity in conservation studies.

A large phylo-floristic study on the present and future assembly of the Wisconsin flora – An area unique in North America

With 1.4 million specimens the Wisconsin State Herbarium (WIS) is one of the largest in the Americas and Wisconsin offers botanists a unique opportunity to study species representing a confluence of global biomes. The state harbors >2640 species of vascular plants which have been sequenced for the two-gene plant DNA barcode to reconstruct a community phylogeny. At the same time >300’000 georeferenced specimens were used with bioclimatic and soil data to produce species distribution models for the flora, then subsequently aggregated to determine current and future patterns of species richness and phylogenetic diversity. Among the many surprising results uncovered are predictions that whereas species richness will increase as c. 850 taxa move into the state, c. 242 species will become extirpated by 2070. These most vulnerable species will not be affected at random. Furthermore, models suggest that Wisconsin’s projected climate will be unsuitable for most species to be able to retain their present distributions; only 65 % will be able to retain more than half of their current distributions. However, the state’s well known unglaciated Driftless Area may be able to serve as an Anthropocene refugium better than anywhere else in the region and should be targeted for increased land conservation.

Latitudinal distributions of the species richness, phylogenetic diversity, and functional diversity of fleas and their small mammalian hosts in four geographic quadrants

We studied latitudinal patterns in the species richness (SR), the phylogenetic diversity (PD), and the functional diversity (FD) of fleas and their mammalian hosts. We asked whether these patterns in either fleas, hosts, or both 1) conform to a classical latitudinal gradient; 2) vary geographically; and 3) differ between fleas and hosts. We also asked whether the patterns of PD and FD follow those of SR. We collected data on the latitudinal distribution of 1022 flea and 900 mammal species from literature sources and calculated the SR, PD, and FD of both groups in 1° latitude bands. Then, we used broken‐stick regression models to analyse separately the latitudinal variation of 1) each diversity facet and 2) fleas and hosts in each geographic quadrant. The classical latitudinal gradient pattern was not found in either fleas or hosts across any facet of diversity or geographic quadrant, except for the PD of fleas in the southeastern quadrant and the FD of hosts in the southwestern quadrant. Latitudinal patterns of the SR, PD and FD of fleas and hosts differed substantially between geographic quadrants. Furthermore, the latitudinal distributions of flea and host SR were similar in three of four quadrants (except the northeastern quadrant), whereas the latitudinal distributions of flea and host PD were similar in the southwestern quadrant only. No similarity in flea versus host FD was revealed. The latitudinal patterns of flea and host PD and FD mostly did not follow those of their SR. We conclude that latitudinal gradients of species richness and phylogenetic and functional diversity appeared not to be universal phenomena. Instead, the latitudinal distributions of these diversity facets represent an interplay of ecological (current and past) and historical processes. For parasites, the processes acting on hosts add another layer of complexity underlying their latitudinal diversity patterns.

Spatio-temporal variation of species richness and phylogenetic diversity patterns for spring ephemeral plants in northern China

Understanding the spatiotemporal distribution of species diversity in response to climatic change is essential for the conservation and management of species resources. Spring ephemeral plants (SEs) have played a crucial role in sustaining the desert and woodland ecosystems of northern China. However, our knowledge regarding the spatiotemporal variation of species diversity in SEs is limited. In this study, we employed occurrence and phylogenetic data for 200 SEs, alongside 19 environmental variables, to model their geographical distribution during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), Current, and the year 2070 (considering two representative concentration pathway scenarios, SSP2–4.5 and SSP5–8.5). We also visualized the phylogenetic diversity patterns in the Current. Our findings revealed that more than half of the SEs notably expanded their range and continuously shifted northeastward from LGM to 2070. From LGM to Current and from Current to SSP2–4.5_2070, 64% and 54% of SEs shifted from higher to lower elevations, and 53% of them will slightly shift to higher elevations from Current to SSP5–8.5_2070. We identified three distinct bioregions corresponding to the core ranges of desert SEs and understory SE ecotypes. The Ili Valley, Tacheng Basin, northern and southern Junggar Basin, and Changbai Mountains were identified as hotspots for species richness, phylogenetic diversity, and endemism for the two SE ecotypes. Notably, these hotspots had limited overlap with existing nature reserves. Additionally, the suitable habitat of desert SEs was primarily determined by precipitation seasonality and precipitation of driest month, whereas the distribution of forest understory SEs was mainly influenced by annual precipitation and temperature seasonality. This study significantly contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the modern diversity distribution patterns and conservation priorities for SEs within a species distribution and phylogenetic framework.

Urbanization reduces fish taxonomic and functional diversity while increases phylogenetic diversity in subtropical rivers

Urbanization is considered as a major cause of widespread biodiversity loss in freshwater ecosystems. However, multidimensional fish diversity patterns driven by urbanization in subtropical rivers are still unclear. We studied fish taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity in rivers under a gradient of watershed urbanization (Maozhouhe, Guanlanhe and Shenzhenhe rivers are in urbanized watersheds while Pingshanhe and Dapengwan rivers are in forested watersheds) in Shenzhen, a megacity with rapid urbanization in south China. Fish assemblages showed significant differences between the forested and urbanized watersheds in both the wet and dry seasons. Rivers in the forest watersheds showed significantly higher taxonomic and functional but lower phylogenetic diversity patterns. Rivers in the urbanized watersheds were largely occupied by non-native species. Overall, there was a distinct difference in river fish assemblages between forested and urbanized watersheds, and urbanization largely affected multidimensional fish diversity. These results will help us to take more effective conservation and restoration measures, and provide an essential reference for ecological management and sustainability of urban rivers.

The Guaymas Basin – A hot spot for hydrothermal generation and anaerobic microbial degradation of hydrocarbons

Guaymas Basin is a young marginal rift basin in the Gulf of California characterized by active seafloor spreading, rapid deposition of organic-rich sediments, and steep geothermal gradients where sedimentary organic material of photosynthetic origin turns into hydrocarbons - potential microbial substrates. After introducing the sources of hydrocarbons in the subsurface, this short overview discusses the phylogenetic diversity, temperature range and occurrence patterns of novel alkane-oxidizing bacteria and archaea in the hydrothermal sediments of Guaymas Basin. Many of these alkane-degrading specialists function as syntrophic consortia, where sulfate-reducing bacteria accept electron from methane- or alkane-oxidizing archaea. As a source of metagenomes, enrichments, and cultures of these methodologically and conceptually challenging microorganisms, Guaymas Basin stands out as an indispensable field site that has consistently catalyzed new insights into the microbiology of anaerobic hydrocarbon oxidation and assimilation.

Patterns and drivers of phylogenetic diversity of seed plants along an elevational gradient in the central Himalayas

The how and why of the spatial variation in biodiversity is one of the fundamental topics in biogeography research, but accurate insights require the incorporation of phylogenetic information. Here, to provide a better understanding of the origin and mechanism of biodiversity in montane ecosystems and thus support conservation planning, we explored the elevational patterns of phylogenetic diversity and structure of seed plants in the Gyirong Valley, the longest valley in China’s central Himalayas. The observed patterns were related to climatic, historical, geographical, and disturbance-related factors, and the relative contributions of these factors in explaining them were assessed. Our results showed that phylogenetic diversity of seed plants in the central Himalayas were described by a strongly hump-shaped pattern, peaking at 2700 m around. The phylogenetic structure of the plants was characterized by overdispersion at lower elevations and clustering at higher elevations, reflecting the cooperation between interspecies competition and environmental filtering in community assembly. Among the examined environmental factors, climatic factors showed the highest explanatory power, suggesting environmental filtering was largely driven by climatic rather than other factors. In summary, our finding indicating that mild climate at lower elevations presumably encourage phylogenetic differentiation by promoting interspecies competition, whereas increasingly harsh climatic condition with elevation may lead to closer phylogenetic relatedness through environmental filtering. Overall, our findings improve our knowledge about the elevational gradient of biodiversity in the Himalayas, and highlight the need for intensified conservation efforts at middle elevations as well as greater scientific concern regarding the impact of climate change on the biodiversity.

Spatial patterns and drivers of native plant diversity in Hainan, China

AbstractHainan Island has the most extensive and well‐preserved tropical forests in China. With rapid economic development of Hainan, biodiversity is increasingly at risk. Determining the spatial patterns of plant diversity in Hainan and explaining the drivers behind plant diversity are important considerations in assessing and maximizing the effectiveness of national parks, such as the newly designated Hainan Rainforest National Park. We assessed phylogenetic diversity patterns, and species richness using 106 252 georeferenced specimen records and a molecular phylogeny of 3792 native plant species. Based on phylogenetic range‐weighted turnover metrics, we divided Hainan flora into four major floristic units. The Grade of Membership model was used to further verify the four units, and to understand their boundaries and the internal structure of each floristic unit. Finally, the best combination model was used to explore the driving mechanisms underlying the division. Our results reveal that central Hainan is the most important hotspot for plant endemism and diversity, followed by the southern area. Environmental energy is the main factor determining the spatial patterns of native plant diversity on the island, and accessibility has the greatest impact on native plant diversity among social factors. We explore patterns of spatial phylogenetics and biogeography to identify potential priorities for management and conservation drivers of plant diversity patterns across Hainan, to provide the basis for the effective protection of native plant diversity and the improvement of national parks of Hainan Island.

Spatial patterns of phylogenetic and species diversity of Fennoscandian vascular plants in protected areas

Protected areas are one of the main strategic means for conserving biodiversity. Yet, the design of protected areas usually neglects phylogenetic diversity, an important diversity measure. In this paper we assess the phylogenetic diversity and species richness of vascular plants in Fennoscandian protected areas. We evaluate how much species richness and phylogenetic diversity is found within and outside protected areas, and the differences in plant diversity between different categories of protected areas. We also assess the differences in the diversity-area relationship of the different protected area categories in terms of both species richness and phylogenetic diversity. We build a multi-locus phylogeny of 1,519 native vascular plants of Norway, Sweden, and Finland. We estimate the phylogenetic diversity and species richness by combining the phylogeny with publicly available occurrence data and the currently protected area system of Fennoscandia. Our results indicate that protected areas in Fennoscandia hold more plant diversity when larger, and that phylogenetic diversity increases faster with area than species richness. We found evidence for more plant diversity outside of protected areas of the different countries of Fennoscandia than inside of protected areas, but no evidence for plant diversity differences between areas with different protection status. Hence, our results indicate that the current protected area system in Fennoscandia is no more effective in conserving phylogenetic diversity and species richness of vascular plants than a random selection of localities. Our results also indicate that planning conservation strategies around phylogenetic diversity, rather than species richness, might be a first step to protect vascular plant diversity more effectively.

A phylogenetic approach identifies patterns of beta diversity and floristic subregions of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Patterns of taxonomic and phylogenetic beta diversity and their relationships with environmental correlates can help reveal the origin and evolutionary history of regional biota. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) harbors an exceptionally diverse flora, however, a phylogenetic perspective has rarely been used to investigate its beta diversity and floristic regions. In this study, we used a phylogenetic approach to identify patterns of beta diversity and quantitatively delimit floristic regions on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. We also examined the relationships between multifaceted beta diversity, geographical distance, and climatic difference, and evaluated the relative importance of various factors (i.e., climate, topography and history) in shaping patterns of beta diversity. Sørensen dissimilarity indices indicated that patterns of species turnover among sites dominated the QTP. We also found that patterns of both taxonomic and phylogenetic beta diversity were significantly related to geographical distance and climatic difference. The environmental factors that contributed most to these patterns of beta diversity include annual precipitation, mean annual temperature, climatic gradients and climatic instability. Hierarchical dendrograms of dissimilarity and non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination based on phylogenetic beta diversity data identified ten floristic subregions in the QTP. Our results suggest that the contemporary environment and historical climate changes have filtered species composition among sites and eventually determined beta diversity patterns of plants in the QTP.

Identification and relative contributions of environmental driving factors for abundant and rare bacterial taxa to thermal stratification evolution

The thermal stratification of reservoir affects water quality, and water quality evolution is largely driven by microorganisms. However, few studies have been conducted on the response of abundant taxa (AT) and rare taxa (RT) to thermal stratification evolution in reservoirs. Here, using high-throughput absolute quantitative techniques, we examined the classification, phylogenetic diversity patterns, and assembly mechanisms of different subcommunities during different periods and investigated the key environmental factors driving community construction and composition. The results showed that community and phylogenic distances of RT were higher than AT (P < 0.001), and community and phylogenic distances of the different subcommunities were significantly positively correlated with the dissimilarity of environmental factors (P < 0.001). Nitrate (NO3−-N) was the main driving factor of AT and RT in the water stratification period, and Mn was the main driving factor in the water mixing period (MP) based on redundancy analysis (RDA) and random forest analysis (RF). The interpretation rate of key environmental factors based on the selected indicator species in RT by RF was higher than that of AT, and Xylophilus (10.5%) and Prosthecobacter (0.1%) had the highest average absolute abundance in AT and RT during the water stable stratification period (SSP), whereas Unassigned had the highest abundance during the MP and weak stratification period (WSP). The network of RT and environmental factors was more stable than that of AT, and stratification made the network more complex. NO3−-N was the main node of the network during the SSP, and manganese (Mn) was the main node during the MP. Dispersal limitation dominated community aggregation, the proportion of AT was higher than that of RT. Structural Equation Model (SEM) showed that NO3−-N and temperature (T) had the highest direct and total effects on β-diversity of AT and RT for the SP and MP, respectively.

The Elevational Gradient of Bird Beta Diversity in the Meili Snow Mountains, Yunnan Province, China.

Understanding the elevational patterns of beta diversity in mountain regions is a long-standing problem in biogeography and ecology. Previous research has generally focused on the taxonomy facet on a large scale, but was limited with regard to multi-facet beta diversity. Accordingly, we constructed a multi-dimensional (taxonomic/phylogenetic/functional) framework to analyze the underlying mechanisms of beta diversity. Within an approximately 2000 m altitudinal range (from 2027 m to 3944 m) along the eastern slope of the Meili Snow Mountains in Deqin County, Yunnan Province, China, we performed field surveys of breeding and non-breeding birds in September/2011 and May/2012, respectively. In total, 132 bird species were recorded during the fieldwork. The results indicated that taxonomic beta diversity contributed 56% of the bird species diversity, and its turnover process dominated the altitudinal pattern of taxon beta diversity; beta phylogenetic diversity contributed 42% of the bird phylogenetic diversity, and its turnover process also appeared to be stronger than the nestedness. For both taxonomy and phylogeny, the null models standardized measures (SES.βsim/SES.βsne/SES.βsor) of paired dissimilarities between elevation zones all showed statistically significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) and were higher than expected (SES.β > 0). However, standardized functional beta diversity showed convergence along the elevational gradient with no significant change. Moreover, the functional beta diversity contributed 50% of the bird functional diversity; there was no significant difference between the turnover and the nestedness-resultant component. Based on these results, we discerned that taxonomic and phylogenetic beta diversity patterns among the elevational zone were overdispersed, which indicated that limiting similarity dominated the turnover process among the bird species and phylogenetic communities in the Meili Snow Mountains.

European bee diversity: Taxonomic and phylogenetic patterns

AbstractAimWild bees still face striking shortfalls in knowledge of biodiversity in key regions of the world. This includes Europe, where despite a long tradition of data gathering, the continental scale distribution patterns of wild bees have not been systematically analysed to date. This study aims to characterise large‐scale biodiversity patterns to: (i) understand spatial–temporal heterogeneity in large‐scale databases, (ii) locate genuine diversity hotspots and their relationship with biogeographical patterns or habitats of interests and (iii) identify understudied species and areas to further design conservation actions for most at risk species in key regions.LocationEurope.TaxonBees.MethodsWe present a continental and standardised study of bee taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity patterns in Europe, using a large compilation of occurrence records of nearly three million validated occurrence records for 1515 wild bee species.ResultsSouthern and eastern Europe suffer from the largest gaps in data availability while northern and western regions benefit from better historical coverage. Our models show that higher wild bee diversity in Europe is hosted in xeric, warm areas, as highlighted by a clear latitudinal gradient. However, phylogenetic diversity is predicted to be more homogenous across Europe than taxonomic diversity, suggesting that policies and strategies targeted to protect species richness may differ from those targeting greater phylogenetic diversity.Main conclusionsThis study represents a significant advance in the characterisation of wild bee distribution patterns across Europe and is an important stepping stone towards the design of more targeted survey efforts and conservation actions of this key group of pollinators. This, in turn, will provide the data necessary to improve the spatiotemporal coverage in a context of ongoing and future Europe‐wide monitoring schemes, to ultimately develop cost‐effective, coordinated and evidence‐based conservation actions and tailored habitat management actions that can be implemented on a smaller scale.