Abstract Detail

Phylogenetic approaches to understanding biodiversity and endemism

Scherson, Rosa Amelia [1], Urbina-Casanova, Rafael [1], Carvallo, Gastón O. [2], Pinochet, Constanza [3], Pliscoff, Patricio [4], Arroyo, Mary T.K. [3].

Phylogeny-based biodiversity assessment in the Chilean flora.

Phylogeny-based methods for assessing ecosystems are increasingly being considered an important input for conservation evaluation. Chile has interesting potential for studies that combine ecology, biogeography, and conservation using measures based on evolutionary relationships: its territory spans a latitudinal range going from 17°S to 56°S, spanning 4270 km along a north–south axis, and an altitudinal range going from sea level to about 7000 meters (23000 feet) in the high Andes. It also contains all known climates in the world. Biogeographically, Chile behaves as an island since it is isolated by the Andes to the East, the Pacific Ocean to the West, the driest desert in the world to the North and the Antarctica to the South. As a consequence, its flora is highly endemic, showing for example the largest number of endemic genera in South America, despite other areas with far more genera. All of central Chile is a biodiversity hotspot that unfortunately coincides with the areas that are the most affected by urban growth, agriculture, and industries. The combination of ancient and more recent geological processes that have shaped the distribution of the flora, including the break-up of Gondwana, the uplift of the Andes, and the Quaternary glacial cycles, make the consideration of evolutionary processes crucial to the understanding of patterns and distribution of native flora, and to developing strategies for efficient conservation. The development of phylogeny-based measures of biodiversity is very recent in Chile, but has so far shown interesting patterns. At the local scale, measures of Phylogenetic Diversity (PD) in disturbed communities in the coastal mountain of Central Chile have shown that within an assemblage, native species contribute more PD than introduced ones, but broadly there is a phylogenetically clustered pattern, possibly due to the presence of a few main families of invasive species. Endemic vascular plant genera in Chile show higher PD than expected by richness in the southern coastal mountain, and lower in areas to the north, possibly attributable to the desert being of more recent formation and the existence of glacial refuges in the southern area. A similar pattern is observed when working with tree species alone, and even though the highest values of PD versus richness (as residuals of a regression) are seen further north, the coastal mountains emerge consistently as an area of important concentration of PD and thus an important target for conservation. Presentation funded by FONDECYT 11121579 to R.S.

1 - Universidad de Chile, Departamento de Silvicultura y Conservación de la Naturaleza, Santa Rosa 11315, Santiago, Chile
2 - Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Instituto de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Avda. Universidad 330, Curauma, Valparaíso, Chile
3 - Universidad de Chile, Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile
4 - Universidad de Chile, Departamento de Geografía, Portugal 84, Santiago, Chile

Keywords:
phylogenetic diversity
Chile
Native flora.

Presentation Type: Symposium Presentation
Session: SY17
Location: Salon 15/16/The Shaw Conference Centre
Date: Wednesday, July 29th, 2015
Time: 2:15 PM
Number: SY17003
Abstract ID:320
Candidate for Awards:None