Exploring the Phylogenetic Structure of Ecological Communities: An Example for Rain Forest Trees

Because of the correlation expected between the phylogenetic relatedness of two taxa and their net ecological similarity, a measure of the overall phylogenetic relatedness of a community of interacting organisms can be used to investigate the contemporary ecological processes that structure communit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American naturalist 2000-08, Vol.156 (2), p.145-155
Main Author: Webb, Campbell O.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biodiversity
Biological taxonomies
Borneo
Communities
Community structure
Ecology
Ecosystems
Evolution
Organisms
Phylogenetics
Phylogeny
Population ecology
Rainforests
Species
Synecology
Taxa
Trees
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Summary:Because of the correlation expected between the phylogenetic relatedness of two taxa and their net ecological similarity, a measure of the overall phylogenetic relatedness of a community of interacting organisms can be used to investigate the contemporary ecological processes that structure community composition. I describe two indices that use the number of nodes that separate taxa on a phylogeny as a measure of their phylogenetic relatedness. As an example of the use of these indices in community analysis, I compared the mean observed net relatedness of trees (≥10 cm diameter at breast height) in each of 28 plots (each 0.16 ha) in a Bornean rain forest with the net relatedness expected if species were drawn randomly from the species pool (of the 324 species in the 28 plots), using a supertree that I assembled from published sources. I found that the species in plots were more phylogenetically related than expected by chance, a result that was insensitive to various modifications to the basic methodology. I tentatively infer that variation in habitat among plots causes ecologically more similar species to co‐occur within plots. Finally, I suggest a range of applications for phylogenetic relatedness measures in community analysis.
ISSN:0003-0147
1537-5323
DOI:10.1086/303378