Phylogenetic Diversity and the Sustainable Use of Biodiversity

Faith, Daniel P.; Pollock, Laura J.

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-54751-5_3

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 42 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Nonetheless, documentation of these benefits is an important endeavor; current efforts to refine and apply classification schemes for livelihoods, use and trade, and ecosystem services in the IUCN Red List will mark a substantial contribution. As better data become available, it will also become increasingly possible to test the hypothesis that phylogenetic diversity predicts option value [75] -that is, that evolutionary novelty underpins potential but as-yet-unexpected human utility. In the meantime, the demonstrable links between individual species and ecosystem services that are critical to humanity should, at a minimum, eliminate the burden of proving the relevance of species, and give way to an intelligent approach founded on the precautionary principle.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Importance and Benefits of Species

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Humans depend on biodiversity in myriad ways, yet species are being rapidly lost due to human activities. The ecosystem services approach to conservation tries to establish the value that society derives from the natural world such that the true cost of proposed development actions becomes apparent to decision makers. Species are an integral component of ecosystems, and the value they provide in terms of services should be a standard part of ecosystem assessments. However, assessing the value of species is difficult and will always remain incomplete. Some of the most difficult species' benefits to assess are those that accrue unexpectedly or are wholly unanticipated. In this review, we consider recent examples from a wide variety of species and a diverse set of ecosystem services that illustrate this point and support the application of the precautionary principle to decisions affecting the natural world.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Importance and Benefits of Species

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The natural environment is increasingly under pressure from processes such as mining, agricultural land use, exotic weeds and pests, and globally changing climatic conditions. Preservation of important areas of remaining biodiversity requires priorities to be defined (Moritz, ) given any possible scenario that may occur in the future, a process termed ‘option values’ by McNeely (; Faith & Pollock, ). The term ‘biodiversity hotspot’ was first used by Myers () to describe areas with a high concentration of endemic taxa, most commonly species, occurring in a threatened habitat, and has gained great popularity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Continental‐scale spatial phylogenetics of Australian angiosperms provides insights into ecology, evolution and conservation

Thornhill

Mishler

Knerr

et al. 2016

Journal of Biogeography

124

134

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aim Biodiversity studies typically use species, or more recently phylogenetic diversity (PD), as their analysis unit and produce a single map of observed diversity. However, observed biodiversity is not necessarily an indicator of significant biodiversity and therefore should not be used alone. By applying a small number of additional metrics to PD, with associated statistical tests, we can determine whether more or less of the phylogeny occurs in an area, whether branch lengths in an area are longer or shorter, and whether more long or short-branched endemism occurs in an area, than expected under a null model. Location Australian continent.Methods We used a phylogeny sampling 90% of Australia's angiosperm genera, and 3.4 million georeferenced plant specimens downloaded from Australia's Virtual Herbarium (AVH), to calculate PD, relative phylogenetic diversity (RPD) and relative phylogenetic endemism (RPE). Categorical analysis of neo-and palaeo-endemism (CANAPE) and randomization tests were performed to determine statistical significance.Results We identify several combinations of significant PD and endemism across the continent that are not seen using observed diversity patterns alone. Joint interpretation of these combinations complements the previous interpretations of Australia's plant evolutionary history. Of conservation concern, only 42% of the significant endemism cells found here overlap with existing nature reserves.Main conclusions These spatial phylogenetic methods are feasible to apply to a whole flora at the continental scale. Observed richness or PD is inadequate to fully understand the patterns of biodiversity. The combination of statistical tests applied here can be used to better explain biodiversity patterns and the evolutionary and ecological processes that have created them. The spatial phylogenetic methods used in this paper can be also be used to identify conservation priorities at any geographical scale or taxonomic level.

show abstract

“…Examples of evolutionary distinctiveness indices are fair-proportion (Redding, 2003;Isaac et al, 2007), equal splits (Redding & Mooers, 2006) and originality (Pavoine et al, 2005). Evolutionary uniqueness measures the unshared evolutionary history of a taxa, an example of an evolutionary uniqueness index is the pendant edge index (Altschul & Lipman, 1990); Option value: Biodiversity value that provides benefits and uses, often unanticipated, for future generations (Forest et al, 2007;Faith, 2008;Faith et al, 2010;Faith & Pollock, 2014). (Received 28 October 2014;revised 10 September 2015;accepted 17 September 2015;published online 14 October 2015)…”

Section: Supporting Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, protecting evolutionary history may help to preserve a diversity of features (see Section II.5) and biodiversity option values, i.e. biodiversity values that provide benefits and uses, often unanticipated, for future generations (Forest et al, 2007;Faith, 2008;Faith et al, 2010;Faith & Pollock, 2014). Recent methodological developments and new sources of data could allow a better understanding of the potential future loss of evolutionary history (Mace, Gittleman & Purvis, 2003;Roquet, Thuiller & Lavergne, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting loss of evolutionary history: Where are we?

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Earth's evolutionary history is threatened by species loss in the current sixth mass extinction event in Earth's history. Such extinction events not only eliminate species but also their unique evolutionary histories. Here we review the expected loss of Earth's evolutionary history quantified by phylogenetic diversity (PD) and evolutionary distinctiveness (ED) at risk. Due to the general paucity of data, global evolutionary history losses have been predicted for only a few groups, such as mammals, birds, amphibians, plants, corals and fishes. Among these groups, there is now empirical support that extinction threats are clustered on the phylogeny; however this is not always a sufficient condition to cause higher loss of phylogenetic diversity in comparison to a scenario of random extinctions. Extinctions of the most evolutionarily distinct species and the shape of phylogenetic trees are additional factors that can elevate losses of evolutionary history. Consequently, impacts of species extinctions differ among groups and regions, and even if global losses are low within large groups, losses can be high among subgroups or within some regions. Further, we show that PD and ED are poorly protected by current conservation practices. While evolutionary history can be indirectly protected by current conservation schemes, optimizing its preservation requires integrating phylogenetic indices with those that capture rarity and extinction risk. Measures based on PD and ED could bring solutions to conservation issues, however they are still rarely used in practice, probably because the reasons to protect evolutionary history are not clear for practitioners or due to a lack of data. However, important advances have been made in the availability of phylogenetic trees and methods for their construction, as well as assessments of extinction risk. Some challenges remain, and looking forward, research should prioritize the assessment of expected PD and ED loss for more taxonomic groups and test the assumption that preserving ED and PD also protects rare species and ecosystem services. Such research will be useful to inform and guide the conservation of Earth's biodiversity and the services it provides.

show abstract

Phylogenetic Diversity and the Sustainable Use of Biodiversity

Cited by 8 publications

References 42 publications

The Importance and Benefits of Species

The Importance and Benefits of Species

Continental‐scale spatial phylogenetics of Australian angiosperms provides insights into ecology, evolution and conservation

Predicting loss of evolutionary history: Where are we?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About