Freezing and water availability structure the evolutionary diversity of trees across the Americas

Cortés, Rocío; Pennington, R. Toby; Baker, Tim R.; Souza, Fernanda Coelho de; Neves, Danilo M.; Davis, Charles C.; Armestó, Juan J.; Olivera-Filho, Ary; Dexter, Kyle G.

doi:10.1126/sciadv.aaz5373

Cited by 54 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 94 publications

(50 reference statements)

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“…Overall, our study illustrates that by utilizing phylogenetic approaches we can better understand how evolutionary heritage, and the tendency of close relatives to share similar ecological and functional characteristics, influences lineage distribution patterns across different environments (Segovia et al., 2020; Wiens & Graham, 2005). In particular, our analyses draw out the ecological significance of environmental transition zones, such as the cloud‐base ecotone, showing that such transitions can coincide with significant phylogenetic community turnover.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Evolutionary heritage shapes tree distributions along an Amazon‐to‐Andes elevation gradient

et al. 2020

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Understanding how evolutionary constraints shape the elevational distributions of tree lineages provides valuable insight into the future of tropical montane forests under global change. With narrow elevational ranges, high taxonomic turnover, frequent habitat specialization, and exceptional levels of endemism, tropical montane forests and trees are predicted to be highly sensitive to environmental change. Using plot census data from a gradient traversing > 3,000 m in elevation on the Amazonian flank of the Peruvian Andes, we employ phylogenetic approaches to assess the influence of evolutionary heritage on distribution trends of trees at the genus‐level. We find that closely related lineages tend to occur at similar mean elevations, with sister genera pairs occurring a mean 254 m in elevation closer to each other than the mean elevational difference between non‐sister genera pairs. We also demonstrate phylogenetic clustering both above and below 1,750 m a.s.l, corresponding roughly to the cloud‐base ecotone. Belying these general trends, some lineages occur across many different elevations. However, these highly plastic lineages are not phylogenetically clustered. Overall, our findings suggest that tropical montane forests are home to unique tree lineage diversity, constrained by their evolutionary heritage and vulnerable to substantial losses under environmental changes, such as rising temperatures or an upward shift of the cloud‐base.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Evolutionary heritage shapes tree distributions along an Amazon‐to‐Andes elevation gradient

et al. 2020

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“…Some models, however, were also fitted using the species‐level phylogeny from Smith and Brown (2018), to assess the robustness of our results to the taxonomic resolution of our phylogenetic data. To construct the genus‐level phylogeny, sequences of the rbc L and mat K plastid gene for 707 angiosperm tree genera were obtained from Genbank (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/) building on previous efforts (Dexter and Chave, 2016; Neves et al ., 2020; Segovia et al ., 2020). Sequences were aligned using the MAFFT software (Katoh and Standley, 2013).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptation and coordinated evolution of plant hydraulic traits

et al. 2020

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Hydraulic properties control plant responses to climate and are likely to be under strong selective pressure, but their macro-evolutionary history remains poorly characterised. To fill this gap, we compiled a global dataset of hydraulic traits describing xylem conductivity (K s), xylem resistance to embolism (P50), sapwood allocation relative to leaf area (Hv) and drought exposure (w min), and matched it with global seed plant phylogenies. Individually, these traits present medium to high levels of phylogenetic signal, partly related to environmental selective pressures shaping lineage evolution. Most of these traits evolved independently of each other, being co-selected by the same environmental pressures. However, the evolutionary correlations between P50 and w min and between K s and Hv show signs of deeper evolutionary integration because of functional, developmental or genetic constraints, conforming to evolutionary modules. We do not detect evolutionary integration between conductivity and resistance to embolism, rejecting a hardwired trade-off for this pair of traits.

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“…This result undermines the role of climatic dynamics (at least since the LGM) and suggests the effect of evolutionary and biogeographic processes at deeper time scales in driving current diversity patterns of these forests. Indeed, SDTF presents significant geographic phylogenetic structure across the Neotropics beyond the 'phylogenetic integrity' (Pennington et al, 2009) exhibited by this biome when compared to Neotropical moist forests (Segovia et al, 2020).…”

Section: And Thementioning

confidence: 99%

The phylogenetic diversity and structure of the seasonally dry forests in the Neotropics

Arango

Villalobos

Prieto‐Torres

et al. 2020

Journal of Biogeography

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AimExceptions to the quasi‐ubiquitous latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) have been poorly studied. A reverse LDG, when species richness (SR) increases away from the Equator, has been suggested for several taxa and entire biomes. The Neotropical seasonally dry tropical forests (SDTF) are a well‐known example of a reverse LDG that could be caused by the climatic stability of Pleistocene Refugia and dispersion from distinct source areas. Here, we test these predictions under a spatial and phylogenetic framework.LocationNeotropics.TaxonWoody plants.MethodsWe used a recent species‐level seed plant phylogeny and the DRYFLOR dataset to evaluate the geographic patterns of phylogenetic diversity (PD) and structure of woody plant assemblages associated with the Neotropical SDTFs. We conducted spatial regressions to test the effect of climatic instability since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) on assemblages’ residual PD (controlling for SR) and null model analysis to evaluate their phylogenetic structure using the Net Relatedness Index.ResultsPhylogenetic diversity of the Neotropical SDTFs increased away from the Equator, likely driven by SR. This pattern was not related to climatic instability since the LGM. Phylogenetic structure of SDTF assemblages showed considerable spatial patterning, with significant phylogenetic clustering in the Mesoamerica and Caatinga regions.Main conclusionThe reverse latitudinal SR gradient of the Neotropical SDTF assemblages is mirrored by their PD. Phylogenetic history seems to have influenced such patterns differently across the Neotropics with no relationship to climatic stability since the LGM, where particular SDTF nuclei previously suggested as Pleistocene refugia served as cradles and source areas for the current diversity pattern of the biome.

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Freezing and water availability structure the evolutionary diversity of trees across the Americas

Cited by 54 publications

References 94 publications

Evolutionary heritage shapes tree distributions along an Amazon‐to‐Andes elevation gradient

Evolutionary heritage shapes tree distributions along an Amazon‐to‐Andes elevation gradient

Adaptation and coordinated evolution of plant hydraulic traits

The phylogenetic diversity and structure of the seasonally dry forests in the Neotropics

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