Si Xingfeng, Cadotte Marc W, Davies T Jonathan, Antonelli Alexandre, Ding Ping, Svenning Jens-Christian, Faurby Søren
Zhejiang Tiantong Forest Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
Institute of Eco-Chongming (IEC), Shanghai, China.
Ecol Lett. 2022 May;25(5):1250-1262. doi: 10.1111/ele.13997. Epub 2022 Mar 11.
Islands frequently harbour unique assemblages of species, yet their ecological roles and differences are largely ignored in island biogeography studies. Here, we examine eco-evolutionary processes structuring mammal assemblages on oceanic islands worldwide, including all extant and extinct late-Quaternary mammal species. We find island mammal assemblages tend to be phylogenetically clustered (share more recent evolutionary histories), with clustering increasing with island area and isolation. We also observe that mammal assemblages often tend to be functionally clustered (share similar traits), but the strength of clustering is weak and generally independent from island area or isolation. These findings indicate the important roles of in situ speciation and dispersal filtering in shaping island mammal assemblages under pre-anthropogenic conditions, notably through adaptive radiation of a few clades (e.g. bats, with generally high dispersal abilities). Our study demonstrates that considering the functional and phylogenetic axes of diversity can better reveal the eco-evolutionary processes of island community assembly.
岛屿常常拥有独特的物种组合，但在岛屿生物地理学研究中，它们的生态作用和差异在很大程度上被忽视了。在这里，我们研究了塑造全球大洋岛屿上哺乳动物群落的生态进化过程，包括所有现存和已灭绝的晚第四纪哺乳动物物种。我们发现，岛屿哺乳动物群落往往在系统发育上聚类（共享更近的进化历史），并且聚类程度随着岛屿面积和隔离程度的增加而增强。我们还观察到，哺乳动物群落通常也倾向于在功能上聚类（共享相似的特征），但聚类强度较弱，并且总体上与岛屿面积或隔离程度无关。这些发现表明，在人类活动之前的条件下，原地物种形成和扩散过滤在塑造岛屿哺乳动物群落中发挥了重要作用，特别是通过少数进化枝（如蝙蝠，通常具有较高的扩散能力）的适应性辐射。我们的研究表明，考虑多样性的功能和系统发育轴可以更好地揭示岛屿群落组装的生态进化过程。
