Assessing biodiversity and endemism using phylogenetic methods across multiple taxonomic groups

González-Orozco, Carlos E., Mishler, Brent D., Miller, Joseph T., Laffan, Shawn W., Knerr, Nunzio, Unmack, Peter, Georges, Arthur, Thornhill, Andrew H., Rosauer, Dan F., and Gruber, Bernd (2015) Assessing biodiversity and endemism using phylogenetic methods across multiple taxonomic groups. Ecology and Evolution, 5 (22). pp. 5177-5192.

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Abstract

Identifying geographical areas with the greatest representation of the tree of life is an important goal for the management and conservation of biodiversity. While there are methods available for using a single phylogenetic tree to assess spatial patterns of biodiversity, there has been limited exploration of how separate phylogenies from multiple taxonomic groups can be used jointly to map diversity and endemism. Here, we demonstrate how to apply different phylogenetic approaches to assess biodiversity across multiple taxonomic groups. We map spatial patterns of phylogenetic diversity/endemism to identify concordant areas with the greatest representation of biodiversity across multiple taxa and demonstrate the approach by applying it to the Murray–Darling basin region of southeastern Australia. The areas with significant centers of phylogenetic diversity and endemism were distributed differently for the five taxonomic groups studied (plant genera, fish, tree frogs, acacias, and eucalypts); no strong shared patterns across all five groups emerged. However, congruence was apparent between some groups in some parts of the basin. The northern region of the basin emerges from the analysis as a priority area for future conservation initiatives focused on eucalypts and tree frogs. The southern region is particularly important for conservation of the evolutionary heritage of plants and fishes.

Item ID: 43396
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 2045-7758
Keywords: Australia; biogeography; conservation; Murray–Darling basin; phylogenetic diversity; phylogenetic endemism
Additional Information:

Copyright 2015 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Funders: Collaborative Research Network, Murray-Darling Basin Futures Postdoctoral Fellowship
Date Deposited: 13 May 2016 04:37
FoR Codes: 06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 0603 Evolutionary Biology > 060302 Biogeography and Phylogeography @ 50%
06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 0603 Evolutionary Biology > 060310 Plant Systematics and Taxonomy @ 50%
SEO Codes: 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9608 Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity > 960805 Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity at Regional or Larger Scales @ 100%
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