Taxonomic and phylogenetic β‐diversity of freshwater fish assemblages in relationship to geographical and climatic determinants in North America

Abstract

Aim A full understanding of the origin and maintenance of β‐diversity patterns in a region requires understanding of: (1) the relationships of both taxonomic and phylogenetic β‐diversity (TBD and PBD, respectively) and their respective turnover and nestedness components with geographical and environmental distances; (2) the relative importance of the turnover and nestedness components of β‐diversity; and (3) the relationships between PBD measures representing different evolutionary depths. Here, we investigate all these aspects of β‐diversity simultaneously for freshwater fishes in North America. Location North America north of Mexico (hereafter, North America). Taxon Freshwater fishes. Methods North America was divided into 360 watersheds. Using two sampling approaches (neighbourhood vs. pairwise), we quantified β‐diversity between fish assemblages using various metrics (representing total, turnover and nestedness components of TBD and PBD, and tip‐ vs. basal‐weighted PBD) and related them to geographical and climatic factors using correlation and regression analyses. Results Geographical patterns of total TBD and PBD and their components of turnover and nestedness for freshwater fish assemblages among neighbouring watersheds were highly congruent across North America. Geographical patterns of basal‐weighted PBD were generally opposite to those of tip‐weighted PBD. Metrics of β‐diversity were weakly associated with contemporary climatic variables. TBD and PBD were associated strongly to moderately with geographical distances and moderately with climatic distances. The relationships of metrics of β‐diversity to geographical distances were stronger than those to climatic distances in all cases. Main conclusions Geographical and ecological patterns are highly congruent between taxonomic and tip‐weighted PBD, but those between tip‐ and basal‐weighted PBD are greatly different, suggesting that evolutionary histories have played an important role in shaping β‐diversity. Our study suggests that geographical distance between watersheds is more important than climate similarity in determining β‐diversity between freshwater fish assemblages.

Understanding the relative roles of local environmental, geo‐climatic and spatial factors for taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic β‐diversity of stream fishes in a large basin, Northeast China

“…Most researchers have concerned themselves with the relationship between riverine organisms (fish, macroinvertebrates, and benthic algae) and environmental factors in the basin (Wu et al, 2021 ), as well as the ecosystem integrity assessment (Wang et al, 2018 ). However, little research has focused on the relative contribution of each component of fish β ‐diversity (Qian et al, 2021 ), and the main drivers of these components (Wu et al, 2021 ). Our study analyzed the main driving mechanisms affecting the taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic β ‐diversity of fish communities (turnover and nestedness), and explored the potential impact of the interaction of three abiotic factors ( Local , Geo , and Spatial factors) on fish β ‐diversity, which differs from other studies (Benone et al, 2020 ; Qian et al, 2021 ).…”

“…In previous studies, changes in community composition were explored mainly based on taxonomy (Taylor, 2010 ; Villeger et al, 2015 ). Understanding the percentage differences in the species composition of different communities, and providing information on species overlap and differences, brings key conceptual advances in the patterns behind differences in species composition (Qian et al, 2021 ). However, it is universally accepted that taxonomy is not enough to understand species' structural and evolutionary information without considering the functional and phylogenetic facets of biodiversity (Gianuca et al, 2017 ; Taylor, 2010 ).…”

“…However, it is universally accepted that taxonomy is not enough to understand species' structural and evolutionary information without considering the functional and phylogenetic facets of biodiversity (Gianuca et al, 2017 ; Taylor, 2010 ). In recent years, increased research on other facets of β ‐diversity has allowed for a more complete understanding of the β ‐diversity operating mechanism (Hill et al, 2019 ; Qian et al, 2021 ; Wu et al, 2022 ). First, species phylogeny can detect community similarity in cases where two communities do not share species.…”

Distribution and Assemblage Variation of Benthic Macroinvertebrates: A Uniform Elevational Biodiversity Pattern Among Different Groups?

“…The hump-shaped pattern was also typical in vertebrates such as birds (McCain, 2009;Neate-Clegg et al, 2021), reptiles (McCain, 2010), and amphibians (Fu et al, 2006;Wang et al, 2019), and terrestrial invertebrate species, such as beetles (da Silva et al, 2018;McCabe and Cobb, 2020), moths (Beck et al, 2017), and ants (Szewczyk and McCain, 2016;Nunes et al, 2020). However, aquatic biological groups often showed a decreasing elevational biodiversity pattern in species richness, such as fish (Fu et al, 2004;Bhatt et al, 2012;Qian et al, 2021), crustacean (Hessen et al, 2007;Ramos et al, 2021), rotifer (Obertegger et al, 2010), aquatic plants (Jones et al, 2003;Stefanidis et al, 2021), phytoplankton and cyanobacteria (Jankowski and Weyhenmeyer, 2006;Teittinen et al, 2017).…”

“…Biodiversity patterns along elevational gradient have been well-examined for vertebrates, such as mammals (Brown, 2001;McCain, 2005McCain, , 2007Gebert et al, 2019), birds (McCain, 2009;Neate-Clegg et al, 2021), reptiles (McCain, 2010;Jins et al, 2021), amphibians (Fu et al, 2006;Wang et al, 2019), and fishes (Bhatt et al, 2012;Qian et al, 2021). However, we have insufficient data about invertebrates (Sanders et al, 2003;Beck et al, 2017;Albrecht et al, 2018;Nunes et al, 2020;He et al, 2021), especially benthic macroinvertebrates in lakes (de Mendoza and Catalan, 2010;Wang et al, 2011).…”