The Cerrado is one of the most threatened biomes in Brazil, with little spatial representation within the Protected Area network. Recently, proposed conservation plans worldwide have advocated for the use of multiple biodiversity facets to protect unique evolutionary and functional processes. Our aim was to identify areas with high biodiversity representativeness applying this multifaceted perspective, and propose conservation plans based on the joint analysis of taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity. We used a database of the Brazilian National Program for Research in Biodiversity, which employs a standard protocol for sampling tadpoles. The Cerrado database includes samples from 165 water bodies spread over 15 localities, covering most of the Central Brazilian Cerrado. We selected four morphological traits to calculate functional diversity and used a dated phylogeny available in the literature to compute phylogenetic diversity. Our approach selected five priority areas for conservation, one of which is already protected. Our results highlighted the importance of four new areas which show high values of diversity, including original lineages and traits, and urgently need conservation prioritization. Furthermore, unlike the current protected network, our approach performs significantly better than random at protecting sites with high phylogenetic and functional diversity. We therefore discuss how the multifaceted indices considered can help protect key ecosystem functions and evolutionary legacy in anuran communities of the Brazilian Cerrado.

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Aim The Theory of Island Biogeography posits that ecological and evolutionary processes regulate species richness of isolated areas. We assessed the influences of an island area and distance from the mainland on species richness, phylogenetic diversity, and phylogenetic composition of snakes on coastal islands. Location Coastal islands of the megadiverse Atlantic Forest in southeastern Brazil. Methods We compiled the species composition of 17 coastal islands in southeastern Brazil. Species richness and phylogenetic diversity were calculated for each island. Phylogenetic composition was measured using principal coordinates of phylogenetic structure. We then employed generalized linear models to test the influence of area and distance from the mainland on the diversity metrics. Results We found a prominent influence of area on species richness, whereas phylogenetic diversity was more affected by distance from the mainland. Snake clades were distinctly associated with area and distance. The Boidae family was associated with nearer and larger islands, whereas Elapidae was broadly distributed. Distance from the mainland was associated with the distribution of Dipsadidae, whereas Colubridae was influenced by both the area and distance. The Viperidae family attained higher values of phylogenetic diversity in smaller and more remote islands. Main conclusions This island system conserved a considerable piece of snake richness from southeastern Brazil, including island endemic species. Area and distance from the mainland were important drivers of snake diversity in the Atlantic Forest coastal islands. However, these predictors affected the different components of diversity in different ways. Phylogenetic composition analysis enables us to understand how basal nodes contributed to high levels of phylogenetic diversity on smaller and farther islands regardless of the decrease in species richness.

1. Non‐trophic interactions between plants and animals can affect community structure and species trait composition. However, it is unclear how changes in intra‐ and interspecific morphological traits of plant species affect non‐trophic interactions at a metacommunity scale. Additionally, whether plant evolutionary history determines taxonomic and functional diversity of plant‐dwelling predators is an open question. 2. To address these gaps, this study used a published dataset with spiders dwelling exclusively on bromeliads to investigate if: (i) intra‐ and interspecific variability in host plant morphological traits affects spider taxonomic and functional diversity; and (ii) bromeliad trait evolution determines present‐day patterns of spider trait diversity. 3. Spider and bromeliad traits were measured, and a new statistical framework was used to quantify the response of spider beta diversity to intra‐ and interspecific variation in bromeliad traits. In addition, bromeliad traits were decomposed across its phylogenetic tree to check whether the current variation in morphological traits of bromeliads is a result of either ancestral or recent diversification. 4. Bromeliad intraspecific variation did not affect spiders, but leaf length variation between bromeliad species had a positive effect on spider functional beta diversity. Interestingly, the most ancestral split between two subfamilies explained most of the variation in bromeliad species, which suggests that spider functional diversity could represent an outcome of bromeliad evolutionary history. 5. Overall, the results of this study suggest that interactions between plants and organisms that do not feed directly on their tissues could be shaped by plant evolutionary history, which in turn suggests that non‐trophic interactions can be maintained over time.

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