Centre for Macroevolution and Macroecology, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2011 Sep 12;366(1577):2545-53. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2011.0021.
Phylogenetic community ecology seeks to explain the processes involved in the formation of species assemblages by analysing their phylogenetic structure, and to date has focused primarily on local-scale communities. Macroecology, on the other hand, is concerned with the structure of assemblages at large geographical scales, but has remained largely non-phylogenetic. Analysing the phylogenetic structure of large-scale assemblages provides a link between these two research programmes. In this paper, I ask whether we should expect large-scale assemblages to show significant phylogenetic structure, by outlining some of the ecological and macroevolutionary processes that may play a role in assemblage formation. As a case study, I then explore the phylogenetic structure of carnivore assemblages within the terrestrial ecoregions of Africa. Many assemblages at these scales are indeed phylogenetically non-random (either clustered or overdispersed). One interpretation of the observed patterns of phylogenetic structure is that many clades underwent rapid biome-filling radiations, followed by diversification slowdown and competitive sorting as niche space became saturated.
系统发生群落生态学通过分析物种组合的系统发生结构来解释物种组合形成过程，并已将重点主要放在局部尺度的群落上。另一方面，宏观生态学关注的是大地理尺度上的组合结构，但仍然在很大程度上是非系统发生的。分析大尺度组合的系统发生结构为这两个研究计划之间提供了联系。在本文中，我通过概述可能在组合形成中起作用的一些生态和宏观进化过程，来探讨我们是否应该期望大尺度组合具有显著的系统发生结构。然后，作为案例研究，我探讨了非洲陆地生态区的食肉动物组合的系统发生结构。在这些尺度上，许多组合在系统发生上确实是非随机的（聚类或过度分散）。对观察到的系统发生结构模式的一种解释是，许多进化枝经历了快速的生物群填充辐射，随后随着生态位空间饱和，多样化速度减慢，竞争分类。
