Environmental conditions and biotic interactions acting together promote phylogenetic randomness in semi-arid plant communities: new methods help to avoid misleading conclusions.

ABSTRACT:

Questions

Molecular phylogenies are being increasingly used to better understand the mechanisms structuring natural communities. The prevalent theory is that environmental factors and biotic interactions promote the phylogenetic clustering and overdispersion of plant communities, respectively. However, both environmental filtering and biotic interactions are very likely to interact in most natural communities, jointly affecting community phylogenetic structure. We asked the following question: How do environmental filters and biotic interactions jointly affect the phylogenetic structure of plant communities across environmental gradients?

Location

Eleven Stipa tenacissima L. grasslands located along an environmental gradient from central to south-east Spain, which cov

SUBMITTER: Soliveres S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4430811 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature