Phylogenetic diversity of Amazonian tree communities

Eurídice N. Honorio Coronado (1) , Kyle G. Dexter (2) , R. Toby Pennington (3) , Jérôme Chave (4) , Simon L. Lewis (1) , Miguel N. Alexiades (5) , Esteban Alvarez , Atila Alves de Oliveira (6) , Iêda L. Amaral (7) , Alejandro Araujo-Murakami (8, 9) , Eric J. M. M. Arets (10) , Gerardo A. Aymard (11) , Christopher Baraloto (12) , Damien Bonal (13) , Roel Brienen (1) , Carlos Cerón (14) , Fernando Cornejo Valverde (15) , Anthony Di Fiore (16) , William Farfan-Rios , Ted R. Feldpausch (1) , Niro Higuchi (6) , Isau Huamantupa-Chuquimaco (17) , Susan G. Laurance (18) , William F. Laurance (18) , Gabriela López-Gonzalez (1) , Beatriz S. Marimon (19) , Ben Hur Marimon-Junior (20) , Abel Monteagudo Mendoza (21) , David Neill (22) , Walter Palacios Cuenca , Maria Cristina Peñuela Mora , Nigel C. A. Pitman (23) , Adriana Prieto (24) , Carlos A. Quesada (6) , Hirma Ramirez Angulo (25) , Agustín Rudas (24) , Ademir R. Ruschel (26) , Norma Salinas Revilla , Rafael P. Salomão (27) , Ana Segalin de Andrade , Miles R. Silman , Wilson Spironello (7) , Hans ter Steege (28, 29) , John Terborgh , Marisol Toledo (8, 30) , Luis Valenzuela Gamarra , Ima C. G. Vieira (31) , Emilio Vilanova Torre , Vincent Vos , Oliver L. Phillips (1) , Matthew C. Fitzpatrick

1 School of Geography [Leeds]
2 School of Geosciences [Edinburgh]
3 Royal Botanic Garden [Edinburgh]
4 EDB - Evolution et Diversité Biologique
5 University of Kent [Canterbury]
6 INPA - Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia = National Institute of Amazonian Research
7 Projeto TEAM-Manaus
8 UAGRM - Universidad Autonoma Gabriel René Moreno
9 Jardín Botánico de Medellín
10 WUR - Wageningen University and Research [Wageningen]
11 Programa Cienclas Agro & Mar, UNELLEZ Guanare
12 UMR ECOFOG - Ecologie des forêts de Guyane
13 EEF - Ecologie et Ecophysiologie Forestières [devient SILVA en 2018]
14 Herbario Nacional del Ecuador
15 Andes to Amazon Biodiversity Program [Madre de Dios]
16 University of Texas at Austin [Austin]
17 UNSAAC - Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco
18 JCU - James Cook University
19 UNEMAT - Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso
20 Chercheur indépendant
21 Missouri Botanical Garden
22 Universidad Estatal Amazonica
23 Duke University [Durham]
24 UNAL - Universidad Nacional de Colombia [Bogotà]
25 Instituto de Investigaciones para el Desarrollo Forestal
26 EMBRAPA Amazonia Oriental
27 MPEG - Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi [Belém, Brésil]
28 Naturalis Biodiversity Center [Leiden]
29 Universiteit Utrecht / Utrecht University [Utrecht]
30 Inst Boliviano Invest Forestal, Santa Cruz 10260, Bolivia
31 Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi

Aim To examine variation in the phylogenetic diversity (PD) of tree communities across geographical and environmental gradients in Amazonia. Location Two hundred and eighty-three c.1ha forest inventory plots from across Amazonia. Methods We evaluated PD as the total phylogenetic branch length across species in each plot (PDss), the mean pairwise phylogenetic distance between species (MPD), the mean nearest taxon distance (MNTD) and their equivalents standardized for species richness (ses.PDss, ses.MPD, ses.MNTD). We compared PD of tree communities growing (1) on substrates of varying geological age; and (2) in environments with varying ecophysiological barriers to growth and survival. Results PDss is strongly positively correlated with species richness (SR), whereas MNTD has a negative correlation. Communities on geologically young- and intermediate-aged substrates (western and central Amazonia respectively) have the highest SR, and therefore the highest PDss and the lowest MNTD. We find that the youngest and oldest substrates (the latter on the Brazilian and Guiana Shields) have the highest ses.PDss and ses.MNTD. MPD and ses.MPD are strongly correlated with how evenly taxa are distributed among the three principal angiosperm clades and are both highest in western Amazonia. Meanwhile, seasonally dry tropical forest (SDTF) and forests on white sands have low PD, as evaluated by any metric. Main conclusions High ses.PDss and ses.MNTD reflect greater lineage diversity in communities. We suggest that high ses.PDss and ses.MNTD in western Amazonia results from its favourable, easy-to-colonize environment, whereas high values in the Brazilian and Guianan Shields may be due to accumulation of lineages over a longer period of time. White-sand forests and SDTF are dominated by close relatives from fewer lineages, perhaps reflecting ecophysiological barriers that are difficult to surmount evolutionarily. Because MPD and ses.MPD do not reflect lineage diversity per se, we suggest that PDss, ses.PDss and ses.MNTD may be the most useful diversity metrics for setting large-scale conservation priorities.

Keywords: Amazon basin; Magnoliids; Monocots; phylogenetic diversity; species richness

Keywords: Eudicots

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]

Eurídice N. Honorio Coronado, Kyle G. Dexter, R. Toby Pennington, Jérôme Chave, Simon L. Lewis, et al.. Phylogenetic diversity of Amazonian tree communities. Diversity and Distributions, 2015, 21 (11), pp.1295 - 1307. ⟨10.1111/ddi.12357⟩. ⟨hal-01557462⟩