Center for Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA.
Ecol Lett. 2011 Feb;14(2):141-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2010.01563.x. Epub 2010 Dec 20.
Ecologists and conservation biologists have historically used species-area and distance-decay relationships as tools to predict the spatial distribution of biodiversity and the impact of habitat loss on biodiversity. These tools treat each species as evolutionarily equivalent, yet the importance of species' evolutionary history in their ecology and conservation is becoming increasingly evident. Here, we provide theoretical predictions for phylogenetic analogues of the species-area and distance-decay relationships. We use a random model of community assembly and a spatially explicit flora dataset collected in four Mediterranean-type regions to provide theoretical predictions for the increase in phylogenetic diversity - the total phylogenetic branch-length separating a set of species - with increasing area and the decay in phylogenetic similarity with geographic separation. These developments may ultimately provide insights into the evolution and assembly of biological communities, and guide the selection of protected areas.
生态学家和保护生物学家历来将物种-面积和距离衰减关系用作预测生物多样性空间分布以及栖息地丧失对生物多样性影响的工具。这些工具将每个物种视为在进化上等效的，但物种进化历史在其生态学和保护中的重要性变得越来越明显。在这里，我们为物种-面积和距离衰减关系的系统发育类似物提供理论预测。我们使用群落组装的随机模型和在四个地中海型地区收集的空间显花植物数据集，为系统发育多样性（一组物种之间的总系统发育分支长度）随面积增加而增加以及随地理分离而减少的系统发育相似性提供理论预测。这些发展最终可能为生物群落的进化和组装提供深入了解，并指导保护区的选择。
