Scale decisions can reverse conclusions on community assembly processes.

ABSTRACT:

Aim

Phylogenetic diversity patterns are increasingly being used to better understand the role of ecological and evolutionary processes in community assembly. Here, we quantify how these patterns are influenced by scale choices in terms of spatial and environmental extent and organismic scales.

Location

European Alps.

Methods

We applied 42 sampling strategies differing in their combination of focal scales. For each resulting sub-dataset, we estimated the phylogenetic diversity of the species pools, phylogenetic α-diversities of local communities, and statistics commonly used together with null models in order to infer non-random diversity patterns (i.e. phylogenetic clustering versus over-dispersion). Finally, we studied the effects of scale choices on these measures u

SUBMITTER: Munkemuller T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4001086 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature