Natural and Built Environments Research Centre, School of Natural and Built Environments, University of South Australia, GPO, SA, Adelaide, Australia.
Future Industries Institute, University of South Australia, SA, Adelaide, Australia.
Ann Bot. 2018 Nov 30;122(6):927-934. doi: 10.1093/aob/mcy173.
Refugia are island-like habitats that are linked to long-term environmental stability and, as a result, high endemism. Conservation of refugia and endemism hotspots should be based on a deep ecological and evolutionary understanding of their functioning, which remains limited. Although functional traits can provide such insights, a corresponding, coherent framework is lacking.
Plant communities in refugia and endemism hotspots should, due to long-term environmental stability, display unique functional characteristics linked to distinct phylogenetic patterns. Therefore, such communities should be characterized by a functional signature that exhibits: (1) distinct values and combinations of traits, (2) higher functional diversity and (3) a prevalence of similar traits belonging to more distantly related lineages inside, compared to outside, of endemism hotspots and refugia. While the limited functional trait data available from refugia and endemism hotspots do not allow these predictions to be tested rigorously, three potential applications of the functional signature in biogeography and conservation planning are highlighted. Firstly, it allows the functional characteristics of endemism hotspots and refugia to be identified. Secondly, the strength of the functional signature can be compared among these entities, and with the surrounding landscape, to provide an estimate of the capacity of endemism hotspots and refugia to buffer environmental changes. Finally, the pattern of the functional signature can reveal ecological and evolutionary processes driving community assembly and functioning, which can assist in predicting the effect of environmental changes (e.g. climate, land-use) on communities in endemism hotspots and refugia.
The proposed functional signature concept allows the systematic integration of plant functional traits and phylogeny into the study of endemism hotspots and refugia, but more data on functional traits in these entities are urgently needed. Overcoming this limitation would facilitate rigorous testing of the proposed predictions for the functional signature, advancing the eco-evolutionary understanding of endemism hotspots and refugia.
避难所是类似于岛屿的栖息地，与长期的环境稳定性相关，因此具有较高的特有性。避难所和特有性热点的保护应该基于对其功能的深入生态和进化理解，但这种理解仍然有限。尽管功能特征可以提供这样的见解，但缺乏相应的、连贯的框架。
由于长期的环境稳定性，避难所和特有性热点中的植物群落应该显示出与独特的进化模式相关的独特功能特征。因此，这些群落应该具有以下特征：（1）独特的特征值和组合，（2）更高的功能多样性，（3）与特有性热点和避难所内部相比，更多的相似特征属于更远缘的谱系。虽然来自避难所和特有性热点的有限的功能特征数据不允许严格测试这些预测，但强调了功能特征在生物地理学和保护规划中的三个潜在应用。首先，它允许确定特有性热点和避难所的功能特征。其次，可以比较这些实体之间的功能特征强度，以及与周围景观的比较，以估计特有性热点和避难所缓冲环境变化的能力。最后，功能特征的模式可以揭示驱动群落组装和功能的生态和进化过程，这有助于预测环境变化（如气候、土地利用）对特有性热点和避难所中群落的影响。
拟议的功能特征概念允许系统地将植物功能特征和系统发育纳入特有性热点和避难所的研究中，但这些实体中更需要有关功能特征的数据。克服这一限制将有助于严格测试功能特征的拟议预测，从而推进对特有性热点和避难所的生态进化理解。
