Abstract Detail

Conservation Biology

Scherson, Rosa [1], Fuentes-Castillo, Taryn [2], Pliscoff, Patricio [3], Roman, Maria Jose [4], Baldwin, Bruce [5], Kling, Matthew [6], Thornhill, Andrew [7], Ackerly, David [8], Mishler, Brent [9].

Comparative spatial phylogenetics between Mediterranean Chile and California, a tale of two biodiversity hotspots.

Phylogenetic Diversity (PD) has been increasingly used to understand patterns of biodiversity distribution and as a tool to aid in evaluating conservation targets. Mediterranean-like climatic areas around the world are characterized as being very floristically diverse and vulnerable, and all of them are considered biodiversity hotspots. Chile and California are the two Mediterranean-like areas in the New World and have been compared in the past for their remarkable floristic similarities. In this study, we calculated PD and other related metrics for Mediterranean Chile and compared them with previously-studied areas in California, including the California Floristic Province (CFP). A database of more than 90,000 occurrences representing 2661 species of the vascular flora of Mediterranean Chile (MedChile) was analyzed phylogenetically according to available studies, using 580 Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) generated to represent monophyletic groups at the genus level. We generated a phylogeny of the OTUs using Maximum Likelihood. Using this phylogeny and the geographic data base, we calculated spatial patterns of richness, phylogenetic endemism (PE), and PD. Highest values for all three metrics were found in the central part of MedChile and the coastal mountains in the southern area. These measures were also calculated using species distribution models (SDMs) for all species in the region, showing comparable patterns. In areas such as MedChile where lack of locality information is a problem to study biodiversity spatial patterns, SDMs can be very useful in filling in missing locality information. Randomizations were performed to identify areas in which these metrics departed from values expected by chance, for example identifying places in which phylogenetic overdispersion of taxa occurs. The patterns are very similar to what is seen for California, in which areas with higher than expected PD correlate with areas of higher precipitation, and lower than expected PD is found in drier areas. Phylogenetic range-weighted turnover analyses were also performed for MedChile. This highlights the contribution to beta-diversity of narrow endemics, which can be overlooked in traditional clustering analyses. This analysis clearly separated major vegetation formations in MedChile, pointing at the usefulness of incorporating information about evolutionary lineages in vegetation studies. PD and PE contained in protected areas in both MedChile and California was also compared. Funded by Conicyt PII20150091.

1 - University Of Chile, Silviculture And Nature Conservation, Av. Santa Rosa 11315, La Pintana, Santiago, SM, 7850370, Chile
2 - Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Departamento de Ecología, Av. Libertador Bernardo O´Higgins 340, Santiago, Chile
3 - Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Instituto de Geografía y Departamento de Ecología, Av. Libertador Bernardo O´Higgins 340, Santiago, Chile
4 - Av. Santa Rosa 11315, Santiago, SM, 8820808, Chile
5 - University Of California, Jepson Herbarium & Dept. Of Integrative Biology, 1001 Valley Life Sciences Bldg. #2465, Berkeley, CA, 94720, United States
6 - University of California, Berkeley, Department of Integrative Biology, Life Sciences Building 2465, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
7 - State Herbarium Of South Australia, Hackney Road, Adelaide, SA, 5000, Australia
8 - 1005 Valley Life Sci Building, Berkeley, CA, 94720, United States
9 - University Of California, Berkeley, Department Of Integrative Biology, University And Jepson Herbaria, 1001 Valley Life Sciences Building, # 2465, Berkeley, CA, 94720, United States

Keywords:
phylogenetic diversity
Mediterranean ecosystems
vascular plants.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: CB2, Conservation Ecology 2
Location: Tucson B/Starr Pass
Date: Monday, July 29th, 2019
Time: 1:45 PM
Number: CB2002
Abstract ID:763
Candidate for Awards:None