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Bañares-de-Dios G, Macía MJ, Arellano G, Granzow-de la Cerda Í, Vega-Álvarez J, Arnelas I, Espinosa CI, Salinas N, Cayuela L. Woody plant taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity decrease along elevational gradients in Andean tropical montane forests: Environmental filtering and arrival of temperate taxa. PLANT DIVERSITY 2024; 46:491-501. [PMID: 39280967 PMCID: PMC11390605 DOI: 10.1016/j.pld.2024.03.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2023] [Revised: 03/15/2024] [Accepted: 03/18/2024] [Indexed: 09/18/2024]
Abstract
Mountains are paramount for exploring biodiversity patterns due to the mosaic of topographies and climates encompassed over short distances. Biodiversity research has traditionally focused on taxonomic diversity when investigating changes along elevational gradients, but other facets should be considered. For first time, we simultaneously assessed elevational trends in taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of woody plants in Andean tropical montane forests and explored their underlying ecological and evolutionary causes. This investigation covered four transects (traversing ca. 2200 m a.s.l.) encompassing 114 plots of 0.1 ha across a broad latitudinal range (ca. 10°). Using Hill numbers to quantify abundance-based diversity among 37,869 individuals we observed a consistent decrease in taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity as elevation increased, although the decrease was less pronounced for higher Hill orders. The exception was a slight increase in phylogenetic diversity when dominant species were over-weighted. The decrease in taxonomic and functional diversity might be attributed to an environmental filtering process towards highlands, where the increasingly harsher conditions exclude species and functional strategies. Besides, the differences in steepness decrease between Hill orders suggest that rare species disproportionately contribute to functional diversity. For phylogenetic diversity the shifting elevational trend between Hill orders indicates a greater than previously considered influence in central Andean highlands of tropical lowlands originated species with strong niche conservatism relative to distantly related temperate lineages. This could be explained by a decreasing presence and abundance of temperate, extratropical taxa towards the central Andes relative to northern or southern Andes, where they are more prevalent.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guillermo Bañares-de-Dios
- Departamento de Biología y Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Calle Tulipán s/n, Móstoles, Madrid, ES-28933, Spain
| | - Manuel J Macía
- Departamento de Biología, Área de Botánica, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Calle Darwin 2, Madrid, ES-28049, Spain
- Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Cambio Global (CIBC-UAM), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Calle Darwin 2, Madrid, ES-28049, Spain
| | - Gabriel Arellano
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Oikobit LLC, www.oikobit.com, Albuquerque, NM, 87120, USA
| | - Íñigo Granzow-de la Cerda
- Real Jardín Botánico - CSIC, Plaza Murillo 2, Madrid, ES-28014, Spain
- Departamento de Biología y Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Calle Tulipán s/n, Móstoles, Madrid, ES-28933, Spain
| | - Julia Vega-Álvarez
- Departamento de Biología Animal, Ecología, Parasitología, Edafología y Química Agrícola, Universidad de Salamanca, Calle Donantes de Sangre s/n, Salamanca, ES-37007, Spain
| | - Itziar Arnelas
- Departamento de Biodiversidad, Ecología y Evolución, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Calle José Antonio Nováis 12, Ciudad Universitaria, ES-28040, Spain
- Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas y Agropecuarias, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, A. P. 11-01-608 Loja, Ecuador
| | - Carlos I Espinosa
- Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas y Agropecuarias, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, A. P. 11-01-608 Loja, Ecuador
| | - Norma Salinas
- Sección Química, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, A. P. Lima 32, Lima, Peru
- ECI, School of Geography and Environment, University of Oxford, OX1 3QY, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
| | - Luis Cayuela
- Departamento de Biología y Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Calle Tulipán s/n, Móstoles, Madrid, ES-28933, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación en Cambio Global (IICG-URJC), Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Calle Tulipán s/n, Móstoles, Madrid, ES- 28933, Spain
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Gopal A, Bharti DK, Page N, Dexter KG, Krishnamani R, Kumar A, Joshi J. Range restricted old and young lineages show the southern Western Ghats to be both a museum and a cradle of diversity for woody plants. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20222513. [PMID: 37122248 PMCID: PMC10130714 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.2513] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/02/2023] Open
Abstract
The Western Ghats (WG) mountain chain is a global biodiversity hotspot with high diversity and endemicity of woody plants. The latitudinal breadth of the WG offers an opportunity to determine the evolutionary drivers of latitudinal diversity patterns. We examined the spatial patterns of evolutionary diversity using complementary phylogenetic diversity and endemism measures. To examine if different regions of the WG serve as a museum or cradle of evolutionary diversity, we examined the distribution of 470 species based on distribution modelling and occurrence locations across the entire region. In accordance with the expectation, we found that the southern WG is both a museum and cradle of woody plant evolutionary diversity, as a higher proportion of both old and young evolutionary lineages are restricted to the southern WG. The diversity gradient is likely driven by high geo-climatic stability in the south and phylogenetic niche conservatism for moist and aseasonal sites. This is corroborated by persistent lineage nestedness at almost all evolutionary depths (10-135 million years), and a strong correlation of evolutionary diversity with drought seasonality, precipitation and topographic heterogeneity. Our results highlight the global value of the WG, demonstrating, in particular, the importance of protecting the southern WG-an engine of plant diversification and persistence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abhishek Gopal
- CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Uppal Road, Hyderabad, India
- Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, India
| | - D K Bharti
- CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Uppal Road, Hyderabad, India
| | | | - Kyle G Dexter
- School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
- Tropical Diversity Section, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | | | - Ajith Kumar
- Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
| | - Jahnavi Joshi
- CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Uppal Road, Hyderabad, India
- Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, India
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Griffiths AR, Silman MR, Farfan-Rios W, Feeley KJ, Cabrera KG, Meir P, Salinas N, Segovia RA, Dexter KG. Evolutionary Diversity Peaks at Mid-Elevations Along an Amazon-to-Andes Elevation Gradient. Front Ecol Evol 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.680041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Elevation gradients present enigmatic diversity patterns, with trends often dependent on the dimension of diversity considered. However, focus is often on patterns of taxonomic diversity and interactions between diversity gradients and evolutionary factors, such as lineage age, are poorly understood. We combine forest census data with a genus level phylogeny representing tree ferns, gymnosperms, angiosperms, and an evolutionary depth of 382 million years, to investigate taxonomic and evolutionary diversity patterns across a long tropical montane forest elevation gradient on the Amazonian flank of the Peruvian Andes. We find that evolutionary diversity peaks at mid-elevations and contrasts with taxonomic richness, which is invariant from low to mid-elevation, but then decreases with elevation. We suggest that this trend interacts with variation in the evolutionary ages of lineages across elevation, with contrasting distribution trends between younger and older lineages. For example, while 53% of young lineages (originated by 10 million years ago) occur only below ∼1,750 m asl, just 13% of old lineages (originated by 110 million years ago) are restricted to below ∼1,750 m asl. Overall our results support an Environmental Crossroads hypothesis, whereby a mid-gradient mingling of distinct floras creates an evolutionary diversity in mid-elevation Andean forests that rivals that of the Amazonian lowlands.
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