Spatial Phylogenetics of Florida Vascular Plants: The Effects of Calibration and Uncertainty on Diversity Estimates
Julie M. Allen,
Charlotte C. Germain-Aubrey,
Narayani Barve,
Kurt M. Neubig,
Lucas C. Majure,
Shawn W. Laffan,
Brent D. Mishler,
Hannah L. Owens,
Stephen A. Smith,
W. Mark Whitten,
J. Richard Abbott,
Douglas E. Soltis,
Robert Guralnick,
Pamela S. Soltis
Affiliations
Julie M. Allen
Department of Biology, University of Nevada Reno, Reno, NV 89557, USA; Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA; Corresponding author
Charlotte C. Germain-Aubrey
Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
Narayani Barve
Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
Kurt M. Neubig
Department of Plant Biology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901, USA
Lucas C. Majure
Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA; Department of Research, Conservation and Collections, Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, AZ 85008, USA
Shawn W. Laffan
School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Brent D. Mishler
University and Jepson Herbaria, and Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-2465, USA
Hannah L. Owens
Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA; Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen O, Denmark
Stephen A. Smith
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48103, USA
W. Mark Whitten
Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
J. Richard Abbott
Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA; School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences, The University of Arkansas at Monticello, Monticello, AR 71655, USA
Douglas E. Soltis
Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA; Genetics Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32608, USA; Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA; Biodiversity Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
Robert Guralnick
Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA; Biodiversity Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
Pamela S. Soltis
Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA; Genetics Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32608, USA; Biodiversity Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
Summary: Recent availability of biodiversity data resources has enabled an unprecedented ability to estimate phylogenetically based biodiversity metrics over broad scales. Such approaches elucidate ecological and evolutionary processes yielding a biota and help guide conservation efforts. However, the choice of appropriate phylogenetic resources and underlying input data uncertainties may affect interpretation. Here, we address how differences among phylogenetic source trees and levels of phylogenetic uncertainty affect these metrics and test existing hypotheses regarding geographic biodiversity patterns across the diverse vascular plant flora of Florida, US. Ecological niche models for 1,490 Florida species were combined with a “purpose-built” phylogenetic tree (phylogram and chronogram), as well as with trees derived from community resources (Phylomatic and Open Tree of Life). There were only modest differences in phylodiversity metrics given the phylogenetic source tree and taking into account the level of phylogenetic uncertainty; we identify similar areas of conservation interest across Florida regardless of the method used. : Spatial Phylogenetics; Plant Biology; Biogeography Subject Areas: Spatial Phylogenetics, Plant Biology, Biogeography
