Global decoupling of functional and phylogenetic diversity in plant communities

Georg Hähn; Gabriella Damasceno; Esteban Alvarez-Davila; Isabelle Aubin; Marijn Bauters; Erwin Bergmeier; Idoia Biurrun; Anne Bjorkman; Gianmaria Bonari; Zoltán Botta-Dukát; Juan Campos; Andraž Čarni; Milan Chytrý; Renata Ćušterevska; André Luís de Gasper; Michele de Sanctis; Jürgen Dengler; Jiri Dolezal; Mohamed El-Sheikh; Manfred Finckh; Antonio Galán-De-Mera; Emmanuel Garbolino; Hamid Gholizadeh; Valentin Golub; Sylvia Haider; Mohamed Hatim; Bruno Hérault; Jürgen Homeier; Ute Jandt; Florian Jansen; Anke Jentsch; Jens Kattge; Michael Kessler; Larisa Khanina; Holger Kreft; Filip Küzmič; Jonathan Lenoir; Jesper Erenskjold Moeslund; Ladislav Mucina; Alireza Naqinezhad; Jalil Noroozi; Aaron Pérez-Haase; Oliver Phillips; Valério Pillar; Gonzalo Rivas-Torres; Eszter Ruprecht; Brody Sandel; Marco Schmidt; Ute Schmiedel; Stefan Schnitzer; Franziska Schrodt; Urban Šilc; Ben Sparrow; Maria Sporbert; Zvjezdana Stančić; Ben Strohbach; Jens-Christian Svenning; Cindy Tang; Zhiyao Tang; Alexander Christian Vibrans; Cyrille Violle; Donald Waller; Desalegn Wana; Hua-Feng Wang; Timothy Whitfeld; Georg Zizka; Francesco Maria Sabatini; Helge Bruelheide

doi:10.1038/s41559-024-02589-0

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Global decoupling of functional and phylogenetic diversity in plant communities

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Global decoupling of functional and phylogenetic diversity in plant communities

Georg Hähn, Gabriella Damasceno, Esteban Alvarez-Davila, Isabelle Aubin, Marijn Bauters, Erwin Bergmeier, Idoia Biurrun, Anne Bjorkman, Gianmaria Bonari, Zoltán Botta-Dukát, …

Nature ecology & evolution, Vol.9(2), pp.237-248

2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02589-0

PMID: 39627407

Abstract

Plant communities are composed of species that differ both in functional traits and evolutionary histories. As species’ functional traits partly result from their individual evolutionary history, we expect the functional diversity of communities to increase with increasing phylogenetic diversity. This expectation has only been tested at local scales and generally for specific growth forms or specific habitat types, for example, grasslands. Here we compare standardized effect sizes for functional and phylogenetic diversity among 1,781,836 vegetation plots using the global sPlot database. In contrast to expectations, we find functional diversity and phylogenetic diversity to be only weakly and negatively correlated, implying a decoupling between these two facets of diversity. While phylogenetic diversity is higher in forests and reflects recent climatic conditions (1981 to 2010), functional diversity tends to reflect recent and past climatic conditions (21,000 years ago). The independent nature of functional and phylogenetic diversity makes it crucial to consider both aspects of diversity when analysing ecosystem functioning and prioritizing conservation efforts.

Details

Title: Global decoupling of functional and phylogenetic diversity in plant communities
Authors/Creators: Georg Hähn - Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
Gabriella Damasceno - Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
Esteban Alvarez-Davila
Isabelle Aubin - Canadian Forest Service
Marijn Bauters - Ghent University
Erwin Bergmeier - University of Göttingen
Idoia Biurrun - University of the Basque Country
Anne Bjorkman - University of Gothenburg
Gianmaria Bonari - University of Siena
Zoltán Botta-Dukát - Institute of Ecology and Botany
Juan Campos - University of the Basque Country
Andraž Čarni - Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Milan Chytrý - Masaryk University
Renata Ćušterevska - Saints Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje
André Luís de Gasper - Universidade Regional de Blumenau
Michele de Sanctis - Sapienza University of Rome
Jürgen Dengler - ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences
Jiri Dolezal - Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Botany
Mohamed El-Sheikh - King Saud University
Manfred Finckh - Universität Hamburg
Antonio Galán-De-Mera
Emmanuel Garbolino - École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris
Hamid Gholizadeh - University of Siena
Valentin Golub
Sylvia Haider - Leuphana University of Lüneburg
Mohamed Hatim - Wageningen University & Research
Bruno Hérault - Forests and Societies
Jürgen Homeier
Ute Jandt - German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research
Florian Jansen - University of Rostock
Anke Jentsch - University of Bayreuth
Jens Kattge - German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research
Michael Kessler - University of Zurich
Larisa Khanina - Institute of Mathematical Problems of Biology
Holger Kreft - University of Göttingen
Filip Küzmič - Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Jonathan Lenoir - Université de Picardie Jules Verne
Jesper Erenskjold Moeslund - Aarhus University
Ladislav Mucina - Stellenbosch University
Alireza Naqinezhad - University of Derby
Jalil Noroozi - University of Vienna
Aaron Pérez-Haase - Universitat de Barcelona
Oliver Phillips - University of Leeds
Valério Pillar - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Gonzalo Rivas-Torres - Universidad San Francisco de Quito
Eszter Ruprecht - Babeș-Bolyai University
Brody Sandel - Santa Clara University
Marco Schmidt - Kliniken der Stadt Köln
Ute Schmiedel - Universität Hamburg
Stefan Schnitzer - Marquette University
Franziska Schrodt - University of Nottingham
Urban Šilc - Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Ben Sparrow - The University of Adelaide
Maria Sporbert - Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
Zvjezdana Stančić - University of Zagreb
Ben Strohbach - Namibia University of Science and Technology
Jens-Christian Svenning
Cindy Tang - Yunnan University
Zhiyao Tang - Peking University
Alexander Christian Vibrans - Universidade Regional de Blumenau
Cyrille Violle - Université de Montpellier
Donald Waller - University of Wisconsin–Madison
Desalegn Wana - Addis Ababa University
Hua-Feng Wang
Timothy Whitfeld
Georg Zizka - Goethe University Frankfurt
Francesco Maria Sabatini - University of Bologna
Helge Bruelheide - German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research
Publication Details: Nature ecology & evolution, Vol.9(2), pp.237-248
Publisher: Nature
Number of pages: 15
Grant note: German Research Foundation: DFG FZT 118, 202548816 Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR)Danish National Research Foundation: DNRF173 VILLUM FONDEN: 16549 Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq, Brazil): 313315/2022-1 Basque Government: IT1487-22 Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (WAF): KAW 2019.0202 Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research: FFL21-0194 National Forestry and Wildlife Service (SERFOR) of Peru: AUT-IFL-2023-017 Fundacion Universitaria San Pablo-CEU: GNRI 2023, GNRI 2024 Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency: P1-0236
We are thankful for the efforts of thousands of vegetation scientists sampling and digitalizing vegetation data and making them available in regional, national or international databases. We appreciate the support of the German Research Foundation for funding sPlot as one of the iDiv research platforms (DFG FZT 118, 202548816). The scientific results have (in part) been computed at the High-Performance Computing Cluster EVE, a joint effort of both the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ (http://www.ufz.de/) and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig (http://www.idiv-biodiversity.de/). We thank the administration and support staff of EVE who keep the system running and support us with our scientific computing needs: T. Schnicke, B. Langenberg, G. Schramm, T. Harzendorf, T. Strempel and L. Schurack from the UFZ and C. Krause from iDiv. We thank the iDiv Data & Code Unit for assistance with curation (done by L. Figueiredo) and archiving of the dataset. F.M.S. gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Rita Levi Montalcini (2019) programme, funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR). J.-C.S. considers this work a contribution to Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO), funded by Danish National Research Foundation (grant no. DNRF173) and his VILLUM Investigator project 'Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World', funded by VILLUM FONDEN (grant no. 16549). V.D.P. received support from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq, Brazil, grant no. 313315/2022-1). I.B. and J.A.C. were funded by the Basque Government (IT1487-22). A.D.B was supported by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (WAF KAW 2019.0202) and the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (FFL21-0194). A.G.-d.-M. has been supported by National Forestry and Wildlife Service (SERFOR) of Peru (AUT-IFL-2023-017) and Fundacion Universitaria San Pablo-CEU, grant nos. GNRI 2023 and GNRI 2024. A.& Ccaron;., F.K. and U. & Scaron;ilc were supported by the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency (P1-0236).
Identifiers: 991005722760007891
Copyright: © The Author(s)
Murdoch Affiliation: Centre for Terrestrial Ecosystem Science and Sustainability
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Citation topics: 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology; 3.40 Forestry; 3.40.86 Plant Communities
Web Of Science research areas: Ecology; Evolutionary Biology
ESI research areas: Environment/Ecology