Towards an eco-evolutionary understanding of endemism hotspots and refugia

Gunnar Keppel; Gianluigi Ottaviani; Susan Harrison; Grant W. Wardell-Johnson; Matteo Marcantonio; Ladislav Mucina

doi:10.1093/aob/mcy173

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Towards an eco-evolutionary understanding of endemism hotspots and refugia

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Towards an eco-evolutionary understanding of endemism hotspots and refugia

Gunnar Keppel, Gianluigi Ottaviani, Susan Harrison, Grant W. Wardell-Johnson, Matteo Marcantonio and Ladislav Mucina

Annals of botany, Vol.122(6), pp.927-934

2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcy173

PMCID: PMC6266134

PMID: 30239590

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Abstract

Biodiversity

capacity of refugia

centres of endemism

community assembly

conservation planning

eco-evolutionary processes

endemism hotspots

environmental changes

functional biogeography

functional diversity and redundancy

plant functional traits

refugia

Background 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. Proposed Framework 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. Conclusion 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.

Details

Title: Towards an eco-evolutionary understanding of endemism hotspots and refugia
Authors/Creators: Gunnar Keppel - University of Göttingen
Gianluigi Ottaviani - The University of Western Australia
Susan Harrison - University of California, Davis
Grant W. Wardell-Johnson - Curtin University
Matteo Marcantonio - University of California Davis
Ladislav Mucina - Univ Western Australia, Sch Biol Sci, 35 Stirling Highway, Perth, WA 6009, Australia
Publication Details: Annals of botany, Vol.122(6), pp.927-934
Publisher: Oxford Univ Press
Number of pages: 8
Grant note: ARC linkage project; Australian Research Council LP0990914 / Australian Research Council 1U01CK000516 / Pacific Southwest Regional Center of Excellence for Vector-Borne Diseases - U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 3-V4B3111 / NASA; National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) SIRF UWA Safety-Net To-Up Endeavour Europe Award (Australian Government) UPAIS Iluka Chair in Vegetation Science and Biogeography at The University of Western Australia Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship; Alexander von Humboldt Foundation CIPRS (Curtin University) Ad-Hoc scholarship schemes (The University of Western Australia)
Identifiers: 991005580054207891
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; 3.40.195 Biodiversity Conservation
Web Of Science research areas: Plant Sciences
ESI research areas: Plant & Animal Science