Using taxonomic and phylogenetic evenness to compare diversification in two Island Floras

Lozano, Felipe Domı́nguez; Price, Jonathan P.; Otto, Rüdiger; Fernández‐Palacios, José María

doi:10.1016/j.ppees.2009.12.001

Cited by 17 publications

(16 citation statements)

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“…Several of them are younger than the old islands (thermophilous woodlands, coastal scrub, summit scrub). The pine forest and laurel forest can be considered old ecosystems since fossils for Pinus canariensis are dated 13 Myr on Gran Canaria (García‐Talavera et al 1995, Domínguez et al 2010). The low elevation ecosystems seem to be younger or their species composition has entirely changed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increase of island endemism with altitude – speciation processes on oceanic islands

et al. 2012

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Understanding speciation on oceanic islands is a major topic in current research on island biogeography. Within this context, it is not an easy task to differentiate between the influence of elevation as an indicator for habitat diversity and island age as an indicator for the time available for diversification. One reason for this is that erosion processes reduce the elevation of islands over time. In addition, the geographic distance to source ecosystems might differ among habitats, which could lead to habitat‐specific reduction of species immigration, niche occupation and diversification. We used the percentage of single island endemic species (pSIE) in five different zonal ecosystems (distributed in altitude) on the Canary Islands as an indicator for diversification. We tested whether diversification increases with altitude due to a greater ecological isolation of high elevation ecosystems on oceanic islands under the assumption of a low elevation source region on the mainland. In addition we tested whether the ‘hump‐shaped’ (unimodal) relationship between pSIE and island age as well as the linear relationship between species richness and pSIE is consistent across spatial scales. We also analyse a potential influence of island area and habitat area. We found that pSIE increases with elevation. The relations between species richness as well as age with pSIE are consistent across scales. We conclude that high elevation ecosystems are ecologically isolated. Surprisingly, the altitudinal belt with the strongest human influences has the highest values of pSIE. We successfully transfer the ‘general dynamic theory of island biogeography’ to the ecosystem scale, which provides multiple opportunities for future studies. With this approach we find that the effects of elevation on diversification can be separated from those of island age.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increase of island endemism with altitude – speciation processes on oceanic islands

et al. 2012

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“…One of the simplest methods is to consider the taxonomical arrangement of species as a crude approximation to their evolutionary distinctness (Clarke and Warwick 1998). Such a procedure has been extensively used in aquatic and marine ecosystems (Ellingsen et al 2005;Ceschia et al 2007), but has been less applied to terrestrial environments (Moreno et al 2009;Domínguez-Lozano et al 2010). One of the advantages of taxonomic distinctness measures is that they are not dependent on the number of species in the sample, which makes them appropriate to compare species lists from several mountain ranges with different species richness, area and/or sampling effort.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eco-geographical factors affecting richness and phylogenetic diversity patterns of high-mountain flora in the Iberian Peninsula

et al. 2015

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Many studies have highlighted the importance of mountain ecosystems as hotspots of biodiversity and endemism. In this study, we used biogeographic partitioning to explore the diversity patterns of high-mountain flora in south-western Europe by analysing the richness of the main floristic elements in relation to geographical and ecological factors (climate, isolation, elevation, etc.). Taxa that inhabit above 1600 m a.s.l. in the Iberian Peninsula were selected using bibliographic sources. Hierarchical agglomerative clustering and non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) were used to explore the patterns of taxonomic diversity across the main biogeographic elements. Six environmental variables were calculated to account for inter-range variation in species richness and biogeographic elements. The results showed that at a broad scale, the main floristic elements correlated with specific eco-geographical factors. The Arctic-Boreal element was strongly, negatively correlated with summer drought and showed a higher taxonomic distinctness than expected. The Iberian endemic element was related to isolation and maximum elevation and although it was the richest element, it demonstrated a relatively low taxonomic diversity, in particular in the Baetic Range. Biogeographic origin is an important driver of the diversity patterns of high-mountain flora. In the Iberian Peninsula, these patterns show a North-South gradient, which reflects historical processes of migration and speciation that were constrained by climatic fluctuations during the Ice Ages. Although species richness is the usual biodiversity measure considered in conservation strategies, the use of taxonomically related indices helps to understand better the general diversity patterns and to better document strategies of biodiversity conservation.

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“…Detailed distribution maps of this species exist for the islands of El Hierro (von Gaisberg 2005) and Gran Canaria (González-Artiles 2006), but no attempt has ever been made to identify the geographical range and the ecological status of this species on Tenerife. In general, phytosociological characterizations and ecological differentiations were presented by Rivas-Martínez et al (1993) and by Del Arco et al (2006b), whereas Domínguez-Lozano et al (2010) highlighted the richness of endemic species of this vegetation type.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Within the Canarian Archipelago, Tenerife is the most diverse island with respect to the number of habitats and endemic plants because of its altitude, age and size (Fernández-Palacios and de Nicolás 1995;Zobel et al 2011). Recent studies analyzing species pools of vascular plants at the habitat level on the Canary Islands revealed that thermophilous woodlands, including juniper woodlands, together with the summit scrub showed the highest levels of diversity of endemic species (Domínguez-Lozano et al 2010;Zobel et al 2011;Steinbauer et al 2011).…”

Section: Species Richnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although recent information exists on the estimated potential area of the thermophilous forest, including Canarian juniper woodlands, for each Canary Island based on bioclimatic and phytocoenotic data (Del Arco et al 2006a) and the diversity of its species pool (Domínguez-Lozano et al 2010;Zobel et al 2011), there is a lack of knowledge with respect to geographical distribution, ecological status, floristic composition and diversity pattern of existing populations of Juniperus turbinata ssp. canariensis on Tenerife.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Diversity and distribution of the last remnants of endemic juniper woodlands on Tenerife, Canary Islands

et al. 2012

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Identifying ecological requirements, species diversity patterns and distribution ranges of habitats of interest is an important task when developing conservation and restoration programs. The Canarian juniper woodland formed by Juniperus turbinata ssp. canariensis is listed as a priority habitat by the European Union. Although very common in the past, this vegetation type has suffered immense destruction and degradation over the last five centuries on the Canary Islands, especially on the largest most populated island of Tenerife. We evaluated the geographical distribution range of the last remnants of Canarian juniper woodlands on Tenerife and analyzed their ecological status, floristic composition and plant species diversity. Despite the degradation of the original vegetation, we still observed outstanding species diversity. Endemic species richness and number of typical habitat species were best predicted by summer rainfall, which seems to be the limiting factor for this habitat in the lower drier regions. Human disturbance has had a negative effect on endemic species richness but a positive effect on the distribution of alien plants, highlighting the potential threat to this habitat. Ecological characterization and floristic composition were most influenced by climatic factors related to the dichotomy of a humid windward and a drier leeward slope of the island and by altitude. However, vegetation structure and human disturbance also determined species composition. Environmental requirements indicated a circuminsular potential distribution of this habitat. Given the exceptional plant diversity, the scarcity of dense stands and the low protection status, immediate protection of the remaining stands and future restoration programs should be the priority for conservation strategies of this endemic vegetation type.

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Using taxonomic and phylogenetic evenness to compare diversification in two Island Floras

Cited by 17 publications

References 100 publications

Increase of island endemism with altitude – speciation processes on oceanic islands

Increase of island endemism with altitude – speciation processes on oceanic islands

Eco-geographical factors affecting richness and phylogenetic diversity patterns of high-mountain flora in the Iberian Peninsula

Diversity and distribution of the last remnants of endemic juniper woodlands on Tenerife, Canary Islands

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