Biodiversity comparison among phylogenetic diversity metrics and between three North American prairies.

ABSTRACT: Protection of Earth's ecosystems requires identification of geographical areas of greatest biodiversity. Assessment of biodiversity begins with knowledge of the evolutionary histories of species in a geographic area. Multiple phylogenetic diversity (PD) metrics have been developed to describe biodiversity beyond species counts, but sufficient empirical studies, particularly at fine phylogenetic scales, have not been conducted to provide conservation planners with evidence for incorporating PD metrics into selection of priority regions. We review notable studies that are contributing to a growing database of empirical results, we report on the effect of using high-throughput sequencing to estimate the phylogenies used to calculate PD metrics, and we discuss difficulties in selecting appropr

SUBMITTER: Kellar PR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4504721 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature