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Environment and evolutionary history depict phylogenetic alpha and beta diversity in the Atlantic coastal white‐sand woodlands
Author(s) -
Massante Jhonny Capichoni,
Gerhold Pille
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of vegetation science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1654-1103
pISSN - 1100-9233
DOI - 10.1111/jvs.12900
Subject(s) - beta diversity , ecology , edaphic , phylogenetic diversity , phylogenetic tree , alpha diversity , taxon , ordination , latitude , biology , species richness , geography , soil water , geodesy , biochemistry , gene
Questions How do ecological and evolutionary processes affect the phylogenetic alpha and beta diversity of angiosperm tree assemblages in an evolutionarily young coastal environment? Location Coastal vegetation of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest Domain (restingas), spanning 20° of latitude. Methods We calculated phylogenetic alpha and beta diversity at deep and shallow levels for angiosperm tree species in 136 circular sites of 10 km diameter (hereafter assemblages). The metrics we used for alpha diversity were the mean pairwise distance (MPD) and mean nearest taxon distance (MNTD), and mean pairwise distance separating species in two assemblages ( D pw ) and mean nearest taxon distance separating species in two assemblages ( D nn ) for beta diversity. We then investigated the relationship between phylogenetic diversity, historical (Quaternary) and current climatic variables, and edaphic conditions along the latitudinal gradient. Results We found that MPD increased with precipitation and latitude. MNTD increased with modern‐day temperature, historical temperature instability and precipitation, and it was higher in more fertile and less saline soils. D pw did not correlate either with geographic or environmental distances between assemblages. However, D nn was strongly correlated with both geographic and environmental distances between assemblages. Conclusions The increase in MPD with precipitation and latitude suggests the presence of old Gondwanan lineages colonising restingas from refugia at higher latitudes. The increase in MNTD with modern‐day temperature, historical temperature instability, precipitation, and it being higher in more fertile and less saline soils indicates that the distance between phylogenetic closest relatives tends to increase in assemblages less affected by environmental filtering. Low D pw suggests the presence of widespread lineages across restingas, whereas high D nn may indicate niche conservatism and dispersal limitation of more derived lineages. Our results offer insights into how ecological and evolutionary processes act to shape current patterns of biodiversity in geologically young environments.