Phylogenetic dispersion and diversity in regional assemblages of seed plants in China.

ABSTRACT: Species assemble into communities through ecological and evolutionary processes. Phylogenetic niche conservatism-the tendency of species to retain ancestral ecological distributions-is thought to influence which species from a regional species pool can persist in a particular environment. We analyzed data for seed plants in China to test hypotheses about the distribution of species within regional floras. Of 16 environmental variables, actual evapotranspiration, minimum temperature of the coldest month, and annual precipitation most strongly influenced regional species richness, phylogenetic dispersion, and phylogenetic diversity for both gymnosperms (cone-bearing plants) and angiosperms (flowering plants). For most evolutionary clades at, and above, the family level, the relationships bet

SUBMITTER: Qian H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6859352 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature