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Ecophylogenetics Working Group

by admin last modified 2012-04-20 18:40

NCEAS Project 12069: Linking phylogenetic history, plant traits, and ecological processes at multiple scales;

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Abstract

Our goal is to investigate the links between evolutionary history, plant traits, community structure and ecosystem processes. We are using data from the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) network and beyond to examine the influence of phylogenetic relationships on community structure and traits relevant to ecosystem processes, at nested spatial and taxonomic scales across North America. In doing so, we seek to break new theoretical ground and develop new experimental and statistical protocols. Despite growing interest in understanding the influences of phylogeny on ecological processes, a synthesis across local and continental scales has yet to be attempted. Progress toward a unified understanding of the problem has been hampered by a lack of synthesis of existing phylogenetic and ecological data. A signature outcome will be a database of phylogenetic information for North American land plants and corresponding databases of plant traits and species abundances across local and large-scale environmental gradients. A second outcome will be a set of user-friendly software tools for statistical analysis of these data. These products will be used to clarify the significance of phylogenetic history and trait evolution for community organization and ecosystem processes across critical local and continental environmental gradients in North America. A North American synthesis will provide a framework for subsequent global analyses. We bring together physiological, community and ecosystem ecologists with plant systematists, biogeographers and computational biologists to develop new theory and statistical methods widely applicable to the study of the evolution and assembly of communities.

 

Outcomes


The central outcome of the working group is a special open-access issue in Ecology on "Integrating Ecology and Phylogenetics":

  • Herbivory, growth strategies and habitat specialization in tropical tree lineages: implications for Amazon betadiversity

  • Phylogenetic and Functional Alpha and Beta Diversity in Temperate and Tropical Tree Communities

  • Phylogenetic diversity promotes ecosystem stability

  • Phylogenetic diversity area curves

  • Habitat specialization and the role of trait lability in structuring diverse willow (genus: Salix) communities

  • Phylogenetic and functional characteristics of household yard floras and their changes along an urbanization gradient

  • Shocks to the system: Community assembly of the oak savanna in a 40-year fire frequency experiment

  • Predicting tropical insect herbivore abundance from host plant traits and phylogeny

  • Floral diversity and community structure in Pedicularis (Orobanchaceae)

  • USING PHYLOGENETIC TREES TO TEST FOR CHARACTER DISPLACEMENT: A MODEL AND AN EXAMPLE FROM A DESERT MAMMAL COMMUNITY

  • Phylogeny, Ecology, and the Origins of Climate-richness Relationships

  • Assessing the effects of spatial contingency and environmental filtering on metacommunity phylogenetics
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