Phylogenetic biome conservatism on a global scale

Michael D. Crisp (), Mary T. K. Arroyo, Lyn G. Cook, Maria A. Gandolfo, Gregory J. Jordan, Matt S. McGlone, Peter H. Weston, Mark Westoby, Peter Wilf and H. Peter Linder
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Michael D. Crisp: School of Botany and Zoology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia
Mary T. K. Arroyo: Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity, University of Chile, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile
Lyn G. Cook: School of Integrative Biology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
Maria A. Gandolfo: L. H. Bailey Hortorium, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
Gregory J. Jordan: School of Plant Science, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia
Matt S. McGlone: Landcare Research, PO Box 40, Lincoln 7640, New Zealand
Peter H. Weston: National Herbarium of New South Wales, Mrs Macquaries Road, Sydney, New South Wales 2000, Australia
Mark Westoby: Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales 2109, Australia
Peter Wilf: Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
H. Peter Linder: Institute of Systematic Botany, University of Zurich

Nature, 2009, vol. 458, issue 7239, 754-756

Abstract: Niche conservatism The degree to which plants and animals retain their ancestral ecological traits and environmental distributions ('niche conservatism') is hotly debated, in part because of its relevance to the fate of modern species facing climate change. A tendency towards conservatism has been demonstrated previously on the local and regional scales, and now a study of more than 11,000 plant species from across the Southern Hemisphere confirms a similar phenomenon on a global scale. Only 3.6% of the evolutionary divergences observed involved a shift of biome, suggesting that many species have only a limited capacity to adapt to new biomes, making them particularly susceptible to ecological change.

Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1038/nature07764

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