Vascular plant endemism in the Western Carpathians: spatial patterns, environmental correlates and taxon traits

Abstract

The Western Carpathians, as part of the Carpathian mountain range, are one of the most important centres of vascular plant endemism in Europe. We analysed the distribution patterns of 85 vascular plant taxa (excluding apomictic groups) that are endemic to this region (Western Carpathian endemics) or to the whole Carpathians (pan‐Carpathian endemics) across 125 operational geographic units (OGUs) delimited in the area, and assessed their niche and altitudinal breadths, habitat preferences, and life‐history traits. Spatial pattern of endemic richness was not random, but was geographically structured with the highest values recorded in the OGUs from the central part of the Western Carpathians. The pan‐Carpathian endemics had, on average, larger distributional ranges in the Western Carpathians than the Western Carpathian endemics and showed slightly different distribution patterns, probably affected by historical migrations from the Eastern and Southern Carpathians. A significantly higher proportion of endemics occurred in open non‐forest habitats (i.e. rocks/screes and grasslands, 74%) than in forests (18%). Almost 64% of endemic taxa occurred on calcareous bedrock, while only 12% and 21% were confined to siliceous or both types of bedrocks, respectively. We found a strong positive correlation between the distribution range of endemic taxa and altitudinal and niche breadths. There were no differences between diploids and polyploids in any of tested traits, niche and altitudinal breadths and range size. The best linear model explained almost 75% of endemic richness patterns, and included maximal altitude and its interactions with the proportion of calcareous areas and total area of OGUs as the best predictors. Our data suggest that both environmental conditions and historical migrations have shaped the current pattern of endemic richness in the Western Carpathians.

Of niches and distributions: range size increases with niche breadth both globally and regionally but regional estimates poorly relate to global estimates

“…The correlation we found between species' co-occurrencebased niche breadth and regional range size (R² adj = 0.48) was similarly reported from the Western Carpathians (Mráz et al 2016) and higher than the correlations reported from Slovenia (Marinšek et al 2015), the French Alps (Boulangeat et al 2012) and southern France (Vimal and Devictor 2015). Likewise, the correlation we found between both regionally derived niche breadth estimates (r = 0.75) ranks on the upper limit of previously published relationships (Fridley et al 2007, Carboni et al 2016, Pannek et al 2016.…”

Evolutionary history of the flora of Mexico: Dry forests cradles and museums of endemism

“…Thus, areas of endemism and phylogenetic endemism in the Mexican flora are associated with zones of topographical complexity as found for other floristic provinces across tropical and sub‐tropical regions (e.g., Irl et al, ; Mráz et al, ; Steinbauer et al, ; Zhang et al, 2016; Thornhill et al, ). Our findings support the idea that tropical mountains are hotspots of biodiversity and endemism as a result of local and regional extinction, long‐distance colonization, and local recruitment (Merckx et al, ).…”

“…Endemism, phylogenetic diversity and phylogenetic endemism have been assessed in a number of regions around the world and for different lineages of organisms (e.g., Laffan et al, ; Pyron & Wiens, ; González‐Orozco et al, ; Irl et al, ; Mráz et al, ; Zhang et al, 2016; Baldwin et al, ; Heenan et al, ; Scherson et al, ). Methods for identifying areas of endemism seek geographic spaces that include at least two endemic taxa with non‐random spatial congruence (see criteria for areas of endemism in Harold & Mooi, ).…”

At the intersection of cultural and natural heritage: Distribution and conservation of the type localities of Italian endemic vascular plants

“…The reality of "always limited funds and resources for nature conservation" requires that criteria and spatial priorities for conservation be clearly identified and periodically revised (e.g., Butchart et al, 2010;de Dios et al, 2017: Margules andPressey, 2000;Platts et al, 2014) to tackle unprecedented rates of biodiversity loss at both the global and local levels. It has been widely recognized that endemic plants are, in general, not evenly distributed in space (e.g., Noss, 2017: Hobohm, 2014;Kier et al, 2009;Kruckeberg and Rabinowitz, 1985;Mráz et al, 2016). Whereas some areas are very poor in endemics, other regions, called areas of endemism, harbour high numbers of endemic taxa.…”