Biodiversity Patterns and Phylogenetic Diversity in Plant Communities

Plant communities worldwide exhibit distinct patterns of species richness and evolutionary history that reflect both contemporary environmental gradients and deep-time processes. Latitudinal and elevational gradients in biodiversity often mirror shifts from woody, long‐lived lineages in the tropics to herbaceous, short‐lived forms at higher latitudes and altitudes. Phylogenetic diversity—the sum of evolutionary distances among co‐occurring taxa—adds a complementary dimension to species counts, revealing how historical speciation, extinction and dispersal have shaped local assemblages. Hotspots of phylogenetic endemism, where unique evolutionary heritage is geographically restricted, tend to coincide with regions of climatic stability or complex topography, such as tropical mountains and islands. Global drivers of these patterns include current climate, historical climatic fluctuations and geological events that have alternately isolated or connected floras. Advances in modelling techniques and high‐resolution spatial data now allow integration of species richness, phylogenetic metrics and environmental predictors across scales, informing conservation priorities, ecosystem restoration and predictions of biodiversity responses to land use and climate change.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have quantified global centres of tree phylogenetic endemism and shown that many of these evolutionary hotspots lie outside formal protected areas. Analyses of tens of thousands of tree species indicate that low‐ to mid‐latitude forests harbour the most evolutionarily distinct and range‐restricted lineages, with current climate and long‐term stability as strong co‐drivers. Other work has integrated biodiversity data across fine‐grained forest plots and broader regional checklists to demonstrate that the relative influence of environmental and biogeographic drivers varies with spatial grain. These models predict areas of exceptional beta‐diversity in regions such as East Africa and China, reconciling previously conflicting views on the roles of climate versus historical biogeography. Foundational research on island floras has revealed contrasting signatures of dispersal limitation and in situ speciation among angiosperms, palms and ferns, underscoring how isolation and island characteristics filter lineages and promote unique assemblages.

Biodiversity Patterns and Phylogenetic Diversity in Plant Communities publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in biodiversity patterns and phylogenetic diversity in plant communities across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Phylogenetic diversity: A metric quantifying the total evolutionary history represented by a set of species, measured as the sum of branch lengths in a phylogenetic tree.

Phylogenetic endemism: The concentration of unique evolutionary lineages within a restricted geographic area, highlighting regions with irreplaceable heritage.

Neoendemism: Occurrence of recently evolved, geographically limited lineages, often indicative of rapid in situ diversification.

Paleoendemism: Presence of ancient lineages confined to small areas, typically reflecting long-term persistence in refugial habitats.

Species richness: The number of different species present in a defined area or community.

Beta-diversity: A measure of turnover in species composition between sites, reflecting spatial heterogeneity in community assembly.

References

1. Climate change and land use threaten global hotspots of phylogenetic endemism for trees. Nature Communications (2023).
2. Angiosperm phylogenetic diversity is lower in Africa than South America. Science Advances (2023).
3. Climatic stability and geological history shape global centers of neo- and paleoendemism in seed plants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2023).
4. The contribution of plant life and growth forms to global gradients of vascular plant diversity. New Phytologist (2023).
5. Global patterns and drivers of phylogenetic structure in island floras. Scientific Reports (2015).
6. Global patterns and drivers of tree diversity integrated across a continuum of spatial grains. Nature Ecology & Evolution (2019).
7. Global models and predictions of plant diversity based on advanced machine learning techniques. New Phytologist (2022).