Phylogenetic patterns in regional flea assemblages from 6 biogeographic realms: strong links between flea and host phylogenetic turnovers and weak effects of phylogenetic originality on host specificity.

ABSTRACT: We investigated phylogenetic patterns in flea assemblages from 80 regions in 6 biogeographic realms and asked whether (a) flea phylogenetic turnover is driven by host phylogenetic turnover, environmental dissimilarity or geographic distance; (b) the relative importance of these drivers differs between realms; and (c) the environmental drivers of flea phylogenetic turnover are similar to those of host phylogenetic turnover. We also asked whether the phylogenetic originality of a flea species correlates with the degree of its host specificity and whether the phylogenetic originality of a host species correlates with the diversity of its flea assemblages. We found that host phylogenetic turnover was the best predictor of flea phylogenetic turnover in all realms, whereas the effect of the envi

SUBMITTER: Krasnov BR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10089810 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature