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Abstract Detail



Ecology

Jantzen, Johanna [1], Whitten, William [2], Neubig, Kurt [3], Majure, Lucas [4], Soltis, Douglas [5], Soltis, Pamela S. [6].

Alternative taxonomic sampling and tree reconstruction strategies can affect patterns of phylogenetic diversity: Evidence from a case study in Florida.

The phylogenetic diversity in a community is often used to draw inferences about the local and historical factors affecting community assembly and can be used to prioritize communities for conservation. Because measures of phylogenetic diversity (PD) are based on the topology and branch lengths of phylogenetic trees, which are affected by the number and diversity of taxa that are included in the tree, these analyses may be sensitive to changes in taxonomic sampling and tree reconstruction methods. To investigate the effects of taxonomic sampling on measures of phylogenetic diversity, we investigated the community phylogenetics of the Ordway-Swisher Biological Station (OSBS) at the University of Florida. We used barcoding sequences (rbcL and matK) from 572 vascular plant species, each assigned to one or more communities within the OSBS site, and maximum likelihood methods to reconstruct community-level phylogenies for the OSBS. These phylogenies were used to compute measures of PD and to test a number of hypotheses related to the effect of alternative taxonomic sampling and tree reconstruction methods on patterns of phylogenetic diversity. We studied the effects of: 1) changing the number of taxa included in the phylogeny, 2) using trees reconstructed from molecular data compared to trees pruned from a larger reconstructed tree; 3) using phylograms compared to chronograms; 4) selecting taxa either randomly or by targeting taxa based on proportional representation at the family level; and 5) including only species from certain clades (e.g., Asteraceae, Poaceae). These analyses revealed that using pruned and reconstructed phylogenies results in similar patterns of phylodiversity, while chronograms can lead to significantly different results from phylograms. Additionally, the inclusion of more taxa in a study increases the likelihood of observing significantly non-random phylogenetic patterns. However, there were no consistent phylogenetic patterns with random taxon sampling compared to proportional sampling, or within individual clades in these communities. By identifying potential biases that taxonomic sampling and tree reconstruction methods can introduce into the analysis of phylogenetic diversity, this study will inform taxon sampling for future community phylogenetic studies and will allow for more accurate interpretation of results from these types of studies.


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1 - University Of Florida, Biology, Dickinson Hall, 1659 Museum Road, Gainesville, FL, 32611, United States
2 - Florida Museum Of Natural History, Po Box 117800, 1659 Museum Road, Gainesville, FL, 32611, United States
3 - Southern Illinois University, Dept Of Plant Biology, 1125 Lincoln Dr., Life Science II, Room 420, Carbondale, IL, 62901, United States
4 - Desert Botanical Garden, 1201 N. Galvin Pkwy, Phoenix, AZ, 85008, United States
5 - University of Florida, Biology, Gainesville, FL
6 - University Of Florida, Florida Museum Of Natural History, Gainesville, FL, 32611.0, United States

Keywords:
community phylogenetics
phylogenetic diversity.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 31, Ecology Section - Population Biology
Location: 106/Mayo Civic Center
Date: Tuesday, July 24th, 2018
Time: 2:30 PM
Number: 31005
Abstract ID:232
Candidate for Awards:Ecological Section Best Graduate Student Paper


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