Evolutionary diversity in tropical tree communities peaks at intermediate precipitation
Resource type
Journal article
Creator (person)
Neves, Danilo M.
Dexter, Kyle G.
Baker, Timothy R.
Coelho de Souza, Fernanda
Oliveira-Filho, Ary T.
Queiroz, Luciano P.
Lima, Haroldo C.
Simon, Marcelo F.
Lewis, Gwilym P.
Segovia, Ricardo A.
Arroyo, Luzmila
Reynel, Carlos
Marcelo-Peña, José L.
Huamantupa-Chuquimaco, Isau
Villarroel, Daniel
Parada, G. Alexander
Daza, Aniceto
Linares-Palomino, Reynaldo
Ferreira, Leandro V.
Salomão, Rafael P.
Siqueira, Geovane S.
Nascimento, Marcelo T.
Fraga, Claudio N.
Pennington, R. Toby
Date published
January 24, 2020
Abstract
Global patterns of species and evolutionary diversity in plants are primarily determined by a temperature gradient, but precipitation gradients may be more important within the tropics, where plant species richness is positively associated with the amount of rainfall. The impact of precipitation on the distribution of evolutionary diversity, however, is largely unexplored. Here we detail how evolutionary diversity varies along precipitation gradients by bringing together a comprehensive database on the composition of angiosperm tree communities across lowland tropical South America (2,025 inventories from wet to arid biomes), and a new, large-scale phylogenetic hypothesis for the genera that occur in these ecosystems. We find a marked reduction in the evolutionary diversity of communities at low precipitation. However, unlike species richness, evolutionary diversity does not continually increase with rainfall. Rather, our results show that the greatest evolutionary diversity is found in intermediate precipitation regimes, and that there is a decline in evolutionary diversity above 1,490 mm of mean annual rainfall. If conservation is to prioritise evolutionary diversity, areas of intermediate precipitation that are found in the South American ‘arc of deforestation’, but which have been neglected in the design of protected area networks in the tropics, merit increased conservation attention.
Journal title
Scientific Reports
Volume
10
Issue
1
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
eISSN
2045-2322
Rights statement
In Copyright