Environmental heterogeneity dynamics drive plant diversity on oceanic islands
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Environmental heterogeneity dynamics drive plant diversity on oceanic islands. / Barajas-Barbosa, Martha Paola; Weigelt, Patrick; Borregaard, Michael Krabbe; Keppel, Gunnar; Kreft, Holger.
In: Journal of Biogeography, Vol. 47, No. 10, 2020, p. 2248-2260.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Environmental heterogeneity dynamics drive plant diversity on oceanic islands
AU - Barajas-Barbosa, Martha Paola
AU - Weigelt, Patrick
AU - Borregaard, Michael Krabbe
AU - Keppel, Gunnar
AU - Kreft, Holger
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Aim The General Dynamic Model (GDM) links island biogeographical processes to island geological history. A key premise of the GDM implies that environmental factors shaping the ecology and evolution of biota on oceanic islands follow a hump-shaped trend over the island's life span and drive dynamics in carrying capacity, species diversity and endemism. An important component of the GDM is environmental heterogeneity (EH), but its effects on insular diversity remain poorly understood. Here, we first quantified EH, tested whether EH follows the expected hump-shaped trend along island ontogeny and evaluated how EH relates to plant diversity. Location 135 oceanic islands of volcanic origin. Taxon Vascular plants. Methods We calculated 20 EH metrics focusing on topographic and climatic components of EH, and compared whole-island metrics (e.g. range) and moving-window metrics (e.g. roughness). Using linear mixed-effects models, we evaluated the trends of EH with island age and the EH-plant diversity relationship expected based on the GDM. Results Our analysis revealed some EH components to be collinear, for example, elevation and temperature heterogeneity but also that EH metrics capture different aspects of EH, for example, climatic gradients versus climatic complexity. EH generally followed a hump-shaped trend with island age, peaking early during island ontogeny. Among the EH components, climatic heterogeneity had the strongest effect on plant species richness and elevational heterogeneity on endemism. Lastly, including EH metrics in GDMs (traditionally, only island age and area were included) improved their predictive power. Main conclusions The EH metrics compared here captured various attributes of the environment that influence insular plant diversity. In line with the GDM, our results strongly support a hump-shaped relationship between EH and island age, suggesting that islands become highly heterogeneous early in their ontogeny. Finally, the contribution of EH to GDM-based models of species richness and endemism suggests that EH is a main driver of the diversity of oceanic island biotas.
AB - Aim The General Dynamic Model (GDM) links island biogeographical processes to island geological history. A key premise of the GDM implies that environmental factors shaping the ecology and evolution of biota on oceanic islands follow a hump-shaped trend over the island's life span and drive dynamics in carrying capacity, species diversity and endemism. An important component of the GDM is environmental heterogeneity (EH), but its effects on insular diversity remain poorly understood. Here, we first quantified EH, tested whether EH follows the expected hump-shaped trend along island ontogeny and evaluated how EH relates to plant diversity. Location 135 oceanic islands of volcanic origin. Taxon Vascular plants. Methods We calculated 20 EH metrics focusing on topographic and climatic components of EH, and compared whole-island metrics (e.g. range) and moving-window metrics (e.g. roughness). Using linear mixed-effects models, we evaluated the trends of EH with island age and the EH-plant diversity relationship expected based on the GDM. Results Our analysis revealed some EH components to be collinear, for example, elevation and temperature heterogeneity but also that EH metrics capture different aspects of EH, for example, climatic gradients versus climatic complexity. EH generally followed a hump-shaped trend with island age, peaking early during island ontogeny. Among the EH components, climatic heterogeneity had the strongest effect on plant species richness and elevational heterogeneity on endemism. Lastly, including EH metrics in GDMs (traditionally, only island age and area were included) improved their predictive power. Main conclusions The EH metrics compared here captured various attributes of the environment that influence insular plant diversity. In line with the GDM, our results strongly support a hump-shaped relationship between EH and island age, suggesting that islands become highly heterogeneous early in their ontogeny. Finally, the contribution of EH to GDM-based models of species richness and endemism suggests that EH is a main driver of the diversity of oceanic island biotas.
KW - environmental heterogeneity
KW - general dynamic model
KW - insular endemism
KW - island ontogeny
KW - oceanic islands
KW - plant diversity
KW - SPECIES RICHNESS
KW - INCIDENT RADIATION
KW - GLOBAL PATTERNS
KW - BIODIVERSITY
KW - LANDSCAPE
KW - MODEL
KW - EVOLUTION
KW - SCALE
KW - EQUILIBRIUM
KW - SPECIATION
U2 - 10.1111/jbi.13925
DO - 10.1111/jbi.13925
M3 - Journal article
VL - 47
SP - 2248
EP - 2260
JO - Journal of Biogeography
JF - Journal of Biogeography
SN - 0305-0270
IS - 10
ER -
ID: 246785654