Tiede, Y.; Homeier, J.; Cumbicus, N.; Peña, J.; Albrecht, J.; Ziegenhagen, B.; Bendix, J.; Brandl, R. & Farwig, N. (2016): <b>Phylogenetic niche conservatism does not explain elevational patterns of species richness, phylodiversity and family age of tree assemblages in Andean rainforest.</b>. <i>Erdkunde</i> <b>70</b>(1), 83-106.
Resource Description
Title:
Phylogenetic niche conservatism does not explain elevational patterns of species richness, phylodiversity and family age of tree assemblages in Andean rainforest.
FOR816dw ID:
269
Publication Date:
2016-02-01
License and Usage Rights:
PAK 823-825 data user agreement. (www.lcrs.de/dataagreementp3.do)
Resource Owner(s):
Individual:
Yvonne Tiede
Contact:
email:
webmaster <at> lcrs.de
Individual:
Jürgen Homeier
Contact:
email:
webmaster <at> lcrs.de
Individual:
Nixon Cumbicus
Contact:
email:
webmaster <at> lcrs.de
Individual:
Jaime Peña
Contact:
email:
webmaster <at> lcrs.de
Individual:
Jörg Albrecht
Contact:
email:
webmaster <at> lcrs.de
Individual:
Birgit Ziegenhagen
Contact:
email:
webmaster <at> lcrs.de
Individual:
Jörg Bendix
Contact:
email:
bendix <at> staff.uni-marburg.de
Deutschhausstraße 12
Room No. 02 A 48
35032 Marburg
Faculty of Geography
Germany
Individual:
Roland Brandl
Contact:
email:
webmaster <at> lcrs.de
Individual:
Nina Farwig
Contact:
email:
webmaster <at> lcrs.de
Abstract:
Phylogenetic niche conservatism (PNC) is the tendency of species within a clade to retain ancestral traits and<br/>
to persist in their primary ecological niches on geological time scales. It links evolutionary and ecological processes and has<br/>
been hypothesized to explain patterns of species richness and the composition of species assemblages. Decreasing patterns<br/>
of species richness along latitudinal gradients were often explained by the combination of ancient tropical climates, trait<br/>
retention of tropical lineages and environmental filtering. PNC also predicts decreasing phylodiversity and family age with<br/>
decreasing tropicality and has been invoked to explain these patterns along climatic gradients across latitudinal as well as elevational<br/>
gradients. However, recent studies on tree assemblages along latitudinal and elevational gradients in South America<br/>
found patterns contradicting the PNC framework. Our study aims to shed light on these contradictions using three different<br/>
metrics of the phylogenetic composition that form a gradient from recent evolutionary history to deep phylogenetic<br/>
relationships. We analyzed the relationships between elevation and taxonomic species richness, phylodiversity and family<br/>
age of tree assemblages in Andean rainforests in Ecuador. In contrast to predictions of the PNC we found no associations<br/>
of elevation with species richness of trees and increasing clade level phylodiversity and family age of the tree assemblages<br/>
with elevation. Interestingly, we found that patterns of phylodiversity across the studied elevation gradient depended especially<br/>
on the deep nodes in the phylogeny. We therefore suggest that the dispersal of evolutionarily old plant lineages with<br/>
extra-tropical origins influences the recent composition of tree assemblages in the Andes. Further studies spanning broader<br/>
ecological gradients and using better resolved phylogenies to estimate family and species ages are needed to obtain a deeper<br/>
mechanistic understanding of the processes that drive the assembly of tree communities along elevational gradients.
Keywords:
| Andes | Biodiversity | Ecudaor |
Literature type specific fields:
ARTICLE
Journal:
Erdkunde
Volume:
70
Issue:
1
Page Range:
83-106
Metadata Provider:
Individual:
Jörg Bendix
Contact:
email:
bendix <at> staff.uni-marburg.de
Deutschhausstraße 12
Room No. 02 A 48
35032 Marburg
Faculty of Geography
Germany
