Shapcott Alison, Forster Paul I, Guymer Gordon P, McDonald William J F, Faith Daniel P, Erickson David, Kress W John
Genecology Research Center, Faculty of Science, Health, Education, and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore DC, Queensland, Australia.
Queensland Herbarium, Queensland Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts, Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Toowong, Queensland, Australia.
PLoS One. 2015 Mar 24;10(3):e0122164. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0122164. eCollection 2015.
Australian rainforests have been fragmented due to past climatic changes and more recently landscape change as a result of clearing for agriculture and urban spread. The subtropical rainforests of South Eastern Queensland are significantly more fragmented than the tropical World Heritage listed northern rainforests and are subject to much greater human population pressures. The Australian rainforest flora is relatively taxonomically rich at the family level, but less so at the species level. Current methods to assess biodiversity based on species numbers fail to adequately capture this richness at higher taxonomic levels. We developed a DNA barcode library for the SE Queensland rainforest flora to support a methodology for biodiversity assessment that incorporates both taxonomic diversity and phylogenetic relationships. We placed our SE Queensland phylogeny based on a three marker DNA barcode within a larger international rainforest barcode library and used this to calculate phylogenetic diversity (PD). We compared phylo- diversity measures, species composition and richness and ecosystem diversity of the SE Queensland rainforest estate to identify which bio subregions contain the greatest rainforest biodiversity, subregion relationships and their level of protection. We identified areas of highest conservation priority. Diversity was not correlated with rainforest area in SE Queensland subregions but PD was correlated with both the percent of the subregion occupied by rainforest and the diversity of regional ecosystems (RE) present. The patterns of species diversity and phylogenetic diversity suggest a strong influence of historical biogeography. Some subregions contain significantly more PD than expected by chance, consistent with the concept of refugia, while others were significantly phylogenetically clustered, consistent with recent range expansions.
由于过去的气候变化以及近期因农业开垦和城市扩张导致的景观变化，澳大利亚的雨林已变得支离破碎。昆士兰东南部的亚热带雨林比列入世界遗产名录的北部热带雨林破碎化程度要高得多，且面临着更大的人口压力。澳大利亚雨林植物群在科一级的分类学上相对丰富，但在物种一级则不然。目前基于物种数量评估生物多样性的方法未能充分体现更高分类水平上的这种丰富性。我们为昆士兰东南部雨林植物群建立了一个DNA条形码文库，以支持一种将分类多样性和系统发育关系都纳入其中的生物多样性评估方法。我们将基于三个标记DNA条形码构建的昆士兰东南部系统发育置于一个更大的国际雨林条形码文库中，并以此计算系统发育多样性（PD）。我们比较了昆士兰东南部雨林地区的系统发育多样性指标、物种组成与丰富度以及生态系统多样性，以确定哪些生物亚区域拥有最丰富的雨林生物多样性、亚区域关系及其保护水平。我们确定了保护优先级最高的区域。在昆士兰东南部亚区域，多样性与雨林面积无关，但系统发育多样性与雨林在亚区域所占百分比以及现存区域生态系统（RE）的多样性均相关。物种多样性和系统发育多样性的模式表明历史生物地理学有很大影响。一些亚区域包含的系统发育多样性明显高于偶然预期，这与避难所概念相符，而其他一些亚区域在系统发育上明显聚集，这与近期的范围扩张相符。
