Global patterns of taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of flowering plants:Biodiversity hotspots and coldspots

doi:10.1016/j.pld.2023.01.009

Plant Diversity ›› 2023, Vol. 45 ›› Issue (03): 265-271.DOI: 10.1016/j.pld.2023.01.009

• Articles • Previous Articles Next Articles

Global patterns of taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of flowering plants:Biodiversity hotspots and coldspots

Hong Qian^a, Jian Zhang^b,c, Meichen Jiang^b

a. Research and Collections Center, Illinois State Museum, 1011 East Ash Street, Springfield, IL 62703, USA;
b. Center for Global Change and Complex Ecosystems, Zhejiang Tiantong Forest Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China;
c. Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai 200092, China

Received:2022-12-30 Revised:2023-01-24 Online:2023-07-06
Contact: Hong Qian,E-mail:hong.qian@illinoisstatemuseum.org
Supported by:
We thank anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. This research was partly supported by the Shanghai Municipal Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 20ZR1418100) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 32030068) to J.Z.

Global patterns of taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of flowering plants:Biodiversity hotspots and coldspots

Hong Qian^a, Jian Zhang^b,c, Meichen Jiang^b

a. Research and Collections Center, Illinois State Museum, 1011 East Ash Street, Springfield, IL 62703, USA;
b. Center for Global Change and Complex Ecosystems, Zhejiang Tiantong Forest Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China;
c. Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai 200092, China

通讯作者: Hong Qian,E-mail:hong.qian@illinoisstatemuseum.org
基金资助:
We thank anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. This research was partly supported by the Shanghai Municipal Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 20ZR1418100) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 32030068) to J.Z.

Abstract

Abstract: Species diversity of angiosperms (flowering plants) varies greatly among regions. Geographic patterns of variation in species diversity are shaped by the interplay of ecological and evolutionary processes. Here, using a comprehensive data set for regional angiosperm floras across the world, we show geographic patterns of taxonomic (species) diversity, phylogenetic diversity, phylogenetic dispersion, and phylogenetic deviation (i.e., phylogenetic diversity after accounting for taxonomic diversity) across the world. Phylogenetic diversity is strongly and positively correlated with taxonomic diversity; as a result, geographic patterns of taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity across the world are highly similar. Areas with high taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity are located in tropical regions whereas areas with low taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity are located in temperate regions, particularly in Eurasia and North America, and in northern Africa. Similarly, phylogenetic dispersion is, in general, higher in tropical regions and lower in temperate regions. However, the geographic pattern of phylogenetic deviation differs substantially from those of taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity and phylogenetic dispersion. As a result, hotspots and coldspots of angiosperm diversity identified based on taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity and phylogenetic dispersion are incongruent with those identified based on phylogenetic deviations. Each of these metrics may be considered when selecting areas to be protected for their biodiversity.

Key words: Angiosperm, Biodiversity hotspot, Phylogenetic diversity, Phylogenetic structure, Species richness

摘要： Species diversity of angiosperms (flowering plants) varies greatly among regions. Geographic patterns of variation in species diversity are shaped by the interplay of ecological and evolutionary processes. Here, using a comprehensive data set for regional angiosperm floras across the world, we show geographic patterns of taxonomic (species) diversity, phylogenetic diversity, phylogenetic dispersion, and phylogenetic deviation (i.e., phylogenetic diversity after accounting for taxonomic diversity) across the world. Phylogenetic diversity is strongly and positively correlated with taxonomic diversity; as a result, geographic patterns of taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity across the world are highly similar. Areas with high taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity are located in tropical regions whereas areas with low taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity are located in temperate regions, particularly in Eurasia and North America, and in northern Africa. Similarly, phylogenetic dispersion is, in general, higher in tropical regions and lower in temperate regions. However, the geographic pattern of phylogenetic deviation differs substantially from those of taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity and phylogenetic dispersion. As a result, hotspots and coldspots of angiosperm diversity identified based on taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity and phylogenetic dispersion are incongruent with those identified based on phylogenetic deviations. Each of these metrics may be considered when selecting areas to be protected for their biodiversity.

关键词: Angiosperm, Biodiversity hotspot, Phylogenetic diversity, Phylogenetic structure, Species richness

Hong Qian, Jian Zhang, Meichen Jiang. Global patterns of taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of flowering plants:Biodiversity hotspots and coldspots[J]. Plant Diversity, 2023, 45(03): 265-271.

References

[1] Briggs, J.C., 1987. Biogeography and plate tectonics. Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam.
[2] Brummitt, R.K., 2001.World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2 edn. Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh.
[3] Cai, L., Kreft, H., Taylor, A., et al., 2022. Global models and predictions of plant diversity based on advanced machine learning techniques. New Phytol, https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.18533.
[4] Charkevicz, S., 1985-1996. Plantae Vasculares Orientis Extremi Sovietici, vols. 1-8, Nauka, Leningrad, Russia.
[5] Chase, J., 2012. Historical and contemporary factors govern global biodiversity patterns. PLoS Biology, 10, e1001294.
[6] Costion, C.M., Edwards, W., Ford, A.J., et al., 2015. Using phylogenetic diversity to identify ancient rain forest refugia and diversification zones in a biodiversity hotspot. Divers. Distrib. 21, 279-289.
[7] Coyle, J.R., Halliday, F.W., Lopez, B.E., et al., 2014. Using trait and phylogenetic diversity to evaluate the generality of the stress-dominance hypothesis in eastern North American tree communities. Ecography 37, 814-826.
[8] Currie, D.J., 1991. Energy and large-scale patterns of animal species and plant species richness. Am. Nat. 137, 27-49.
[9] Currie, D.J., Mittelbach, G.G., Cornell, H.V., et al., 2004. Predictions and tests of climate-based hypotheses of broad-scale variation in taxonomic richness. Ecol. Lett. 7, 1121-1134.
[10] Davies, T.J., Buckley, L.B., 2011. Phylogenetic diversity as a window into the evolutionary and biogeographic histories of present-day richness gradients for mammals. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B-Biol. Sci.366, 2414-2425.
[11] Davies, T.J., Fritz, S.A., Grenyer, R., et al., 2008. Phylogenetic trees and the future of mammalian biodiversity. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 105, 11556-11563.
[12] Donoghue, M.J., 2008. A phylogenetic perspective on the distribution of plant diversity. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 105, 11549-11555.
[13] Faith, D.P., 1992. Conservation evaluation and phylogenetic diversity. Biol. Conserv. 61, 1-10.
[14] Feng, G., Svenning, J.-C., Mi, X., et al., 2014. Anthropogenic disturbance shapes phylogenetic and functional tree community structure in a subtropical forest. For. Ecol. Manage., 313, 188-198.
[15] Forest, F., Grenyer, R., Rouget, M., et al., 2007. Preserving the evolutionary potential of floras in biodiversity hotspots. Nature 445, 757-760.
[16] Fridley, J.D., Qian, H., White, P.S., et al., 2006. Plant species invasions along the latitudinal gradient in the United States:Comment. Ecology 87, 3209-3213.
[17] Fritz, S.A., Rahbek, C., 2012. Global patterns of amphibian phylogenetic diversity. J. Biogeogr. 39, 1373-1382.
[18] Fu, Q., Huang, X., Li, L., et al., 2022. Linking evolutionary dynamics to species extinction for flowering plants in global biodiversity hotspots. Divers. Distrib. 28, 2871-2885.
[19] Guo, Q., Cade, B.S., Dawson, W., et al., 2021. Latitudinal patterns of alien plant invasions. J. Biogeogr. 48, 253-262.
[20] Jin, Y., Qian, H., 2019. V.PhyloMaker:an R package that can generate very large phylogenies for vascular plants. Ecography 42, 1353-1359.
[21] Jin, Y., Qian, H., 2022. V.PhyloMaker2:An updated and enlarged R package that can generate very large phylogenies for vascular plants. Plant Divers. 44, 335-339.
[22] Jin, Y., Qian, H., 2023. U.PhyloMaker:An R package that can generate large phylogenetic trees for plants and animals. Plant Divers. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pld.2022.12.007.
[23] Kareiva, P., Marvier, M., 2003. Conserving Biodiversity Coldspots:Recent calls to direct conservation funding to the world's biodiversity hotspots may be bad investment advice. Am. Sci. 91, 344-351.
[24] Kellermann, V., Loeschcke, V., Hoffmann, A.A., et al., 2012. Phylogenetic constraints in key functional traits behind species' climate niches:Patterns of desiccation and cold resistance across 95 Drosophila species. Evolution 66, 3377-3389.
[25] Krasnoborov, I., Peschkova, G.A., Malyschev, L., et al., 1988-1997. Flora of Siberiae, vols. 1-14, Nauka, Novosibirsk, Russia.
[26] Kreft, H., Jetz, W., 2007. Global patterns and determinants of vascular plant diversity. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 104, 5925-5930.
[27] Latham, R.E., Ricklefs, R.E., 1993. Global patterns of tree species richness in moist forests:energy-diversity theory does not account for variation in species richness. Oikos 67, 325-333.
[28] Lehtonen, S., Jones, M.M., Zuquim, et al., 2015. Phylogenetic relatedness within Neotropical fern communities increases with soil fertility. Glob. Ecol. Biogeogr. 24, 695-705.
[29] Letcher, S.G., 2010. Phylogenetic structure of angiosperm communities during tropical forest succession. Proc. R. Soc. B-Biol. Sci. 277, 97-104.
[30] Mazel, F., Davies, T.J., Gallien, L., et al., 2016. Influence of tree shape and evolutionary time-scale on phylogenetic diversity metrics. Ecography 39, 913-920.
[31] Miller, J.T., Jolley-Rogers, G., Mishler, B.D., et al., 2018. Phylogenetic diversity is a better measure of biodiversity than taxon counting. J. Syst. Evol. 56, 663-667.
[32] Myers, N., Mittermeier, R.A., Mittermeier, C.G., et al., 2000. Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature 403, 853-858.
[33] Omer, A., Fristoe, T., Yang, Q., et al., 2022. The role of phylogenetic relatedness on alien plant success depends on the stage of invasion. Nat. Plants 8, 906-914.
[34] Pimm, S.L., Joppa, L.N., 2015. How many plant species are there, where are they, and at what rate are they going extinct? Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard. 100, 170-176.
[35] Pio, D.V., Broennimann, O., Barraclough, T.G., et al., 2011. Spatial predictions of phylogenetic diversity in conservation decision making. Conserv. Biol. 25, 1229-1239.
[36] Qian, H., 2023. Patterns of phylogenetic relatedness of non-native plants across the introduction-naturalization-invasion continuum in China. Plant Divers. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pld.2022.12.005.
[37] Qian, H., Deng, T., 2021. Geographic patterns and climate correlates of the deviation between phylogenetic and taxonomic diversity for angiosperms in China. Biol. Conserv. 262, 109291.
[38] Qian, H., Jin, Y., 2016. An updated megaphylogeny of plants, a tool for generating plant phylogenies and an analysis of phylogenetic community structure. J. Plant Ecol. 9, 233-239.
[39] Qian, H., Jin, Y., 2021. Are phylogenies resolved at the genus level appropriate for studies on phylogenetic structure of species assemblages? Plant Divers. 43, 255-263.
[40] Qian, H., Deng, T., Jin, Y., et al., 2019. Phylogenetic dispersion and diversity in regional assemblages of seed plants in China. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 116, 23192-23201.
[41] Qian, H., Jin, Y., Ricklefs, R.E., 2017. Phylogenetic diversity anomaly in angiosperms between eastern Asia and eastern North America. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 114, 11452-11457.
[42] Qian, H., Ricklefs, R.E., Thuiller, W., 2021. Evolutionary assembly of flowering plants into sky islands. Nature Ecol. Evol. 5, 640-646.
[43] Qian, H., Zhang, J., Jiang, M., 2022a. Global patterns of fern species diversity:An evaluation of fern data in GBIF. Plant Divers. 44, 135-140.
[44] Qian, H., Zhang, J., Zhao, J., 2022b. How many known vascular plant species are there in the world? An integration of multiple global plant databases. Biodivers. Sci. 30, 22254.
[45] Rahbek, C., Graves, G.R., 2001. Multiscale assessment of patterns of avian species richness. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 98, 4534-4539.
[46] Rahbek, C., Gotelli, N.J., Colwell, R.K., et al., 2007. Predicting continental-scale patterns of bird species richness with spatially explicit models. Proc. R. Soc. B-Biol. Sci. 274, 165-174.
[47] Raven, P.H., Axelrod, D.I., 1974. Angiosperm biogeography and past continental movement. Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard. 61, 539-673.
[48] Ricklefs, R.E., 1987. Community diversity:relative roles of local and regional processes. Science 235, 167-171.
[49] Rosenzweig, M.L., 1995. Species Diversity in Space and Time. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
[50] Saladin, B., Thuiller, W., Graham, C.H., et al., 2019. Environment and evolutionary history shape phylogenetic turnover in European tetrapods. Nature Commun. 10, 249.
[51] Sandel, B., Weigelt, P., Kreft, H., et al., 2020. Current climate, isolation and history drive global patterns of tree phylogenetic endemism. Glob. Ecol. Biogeogr. 29, 4-15.
[52] Scherson, R.A., Albornoz, A.A., Moreira-Munoz, A.S., et al., 2014. Endemicity and evolutionary value:a study of Chilean endemic vascular plant genera. Ecol. Evol. 4, 806-816.
[53] Schroter, M., Kraemer, R., Ceausu, S., et al., 2017. Incorporating threat in hotspots and coldspots of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Ambio 46, 756-768.
[54] Smith, S.A., Brown, J.W., 2018. Constructing a broadly inclusive seed plant phylogeny. Am. J. Bot. 105, 302-314.
[55] Suissa, J.S., Sundue, M.A., Testo, W.L., 2021. Mountains, climate and niche heterogeneity explain global patterns of fern diversity. J. Biogeogr. 48, 1296-1308.
[56] Sun, H., Zhang, J., Deng, T., et al., 2017. Origins and evolution of plant diversity in the Hengduan Mountains, China. Plant Divers. 39, 161-166.
[57] Tsirogiannis, C., Sandel, B., 2016. PhyloMeasures:a package for computing phylogenetic biodiversity measures and their statistical moments. Ecography 39, 709-714.
[58] Voskamp, A., Baker, D.J., Stephens, P.A., et al., 2017. Global patterns in the divergence between phylogenetic diversity and species richness in terrestrial birds. J. Biogeogr. 44, 709-721.
[59] Wambulwa, M.C., Milne, R., Wu, Z.-Y., et al., 2021. Spatiotemporal maintenance of flora in the Himalaya biodiversity hotspot:Current knowledge and future perspectives. Ecol. Evol. 11, 10794-10812.
[60] Wang, J., Vanderpoorten, A., Hagborg, A., et al., 2017. Evidence for a latitudinal diversity gradient in liverworts and hornworts. J. Biogeogr. 44, 487-488.
[61] Webb, C.O., 2000. Exploring the phylogenetic structure of ecological communities:an example for rain forest trees. Am. Nat. 156, 145-155.
[62] Wiens, J.J., Donoghue, M.J., 2004. Historical biogeography, ecology, and species richness. Trends Ecol. Evol. 19, 639-644.
[63] Wilkinson, L., Hill, M., Welna, J.P., et al., 1992. SYSTAT for Windows:statistics. SYSTAT Inc., Evanston.
[64] Yue, J., Li, R., 2021. Phylogenetic relatedness of woody angiosperm assemblages and its environmental determinants along a subtropical elevational gradient in China. Plant Divers. 43, 111-116.
[65] Zanne, A.E., Tank, D.C., Cornwell, et al., 2014. Three keys to the radiation of angiosperms into freezing environments. Nature 506, 89-92.
[66] Zhang, J., Qian, H., 2023. U.Taxonstand:An R package for standardizing scientific names of plants and animals. Plant Divers. 45, 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pld.2022.09.001.
[67] Zhang, J., Qian, H., Girardello, M., et al., 2018. Trophic interactions among vertebrate guilds and plants shape global patterns in species diversity. Proc. R. Soc. B-Biol. Sci. 285, 20180949.
[68] Zhang, Y.-Z., Qian, L.-S., Spalink, D., et al., 2021. Spatial phylogenetics of two topographic extremes of the Hengduan Mountains in southwestern China and its implications for biodiversity conservation. Plant Divers. 43, 181-191.
[69] Zhou, Y.-D., Qian, H., Jin, Y., et al., 2023. Geographic patterns of taxonomic and phylogenetic β-diversity of aquatic angiosperms in China. Plant Divers. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pld.2022.12.006.
[70] Zupan, L., Cabeza, M., Maiorano, L., et al., 2014. Spatial mismatch of phylogenetic diversity across three vertebrate groups and protected areas in Europe. Divers. Distribut. 20, 674-685.

Global patterns of taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of flowering plants:Biodiversity hotspots and coldspots

Global patterns of taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of flowering plants:Biodiversity hotspots and coldspots

PDF (PC)

Knowledge

Abstract

Cite this article

share this article

References

Related Articles 15

Recommended Articles

Metrics

Comments

[1]	Mustaqeem Ahmad, Ya-Huang Luo (罗亚皇), Sonia Rathee, Robert A. Spicer, Jian Zhang (张健), Moses C. Wambulwa, Guang-Fu Zhu (朱光福), Marc W. Cadotte, Zeng-Yuan Wu (吴增源), Shujaul Mulk Khan, Debabrata Maity, De-Zhu Li (李德铢), Jie Liu (刘杰). Multifaceted plant diversity patterns across the Himalaya: Status and outlook [J]. Plant Diversity, 2025, 47(04): 529-543.
[2]	Fu-Qiang Huang, Josep Peñuelas, Jordi Sardans, Scott L. Collins, Kai-Liang Yu, Man-Qiong Liu, Jiu-Ying Pei, Wen-Bin Ke, Jian-Sheng Ye. Plant use of water across soil depths regulates species dominance under nitrogen addition [J]. Plant Diversity, 2025, 47(03): 479-488.
[3]	Yuxuan Jiang, Fuli Wu, Xiaomin Fang, Haitao Wang, Yulong Xie, Cuirong Yu. Effective palynological diversity indices for reconstructing angiosperm diversity in China [J]. Plant Diversity, 2025, 47(02): 244-254.
[4]	Jianchao Liang, Zhifeng Ding, Ganwen Lie, Zhixin Zhou, Zhixiang Zhang, Huijian Hu. Climate-driven environmental filtering determines hump-shaped elevational pattern of seed plant beta diversity in the central Himalayas [J]. Plant Diversity, 2025, 47(02): 264-272.
[5]	Shuran Yao, Weigang Hu, Mingfei Ji, Abraham Allan Degen, Qiajun Du, Muhammad Adnan Akram, Yuan Sun, Ying Sun, Yan Deng, Longwei Dong, Haiyang Gong, Qingqing Hou, Shubin Xie, Xiaoting Wang, Jinzhi Ran, Bernhard Schmid, Qinfeng Guo, Karl J. Niklas, Jianming Deng. Distribution, species richness, and relative importance of different plant life forms across drylands in China [J]. Plant Diversity, 2025, 47(02): 273-281.
[6]	Yongli Wang, Yan-Da Li, Shuo Wang, Erik Tihelka, Michael S. Engel, Chenyang Cai. Modeling compositional heterogeneity resolves deep phylogeny of flowering plants [J]. Plant Diversity, 2025, 47(01): 13-20.
[7]	Hong Qian, Oriol Grau. Geographic patterns and ecological causes of phylogenetic structure in mosses along an elevational gradient in the central Himalaya [J]. Plant Diversity, 2025, 47(01): 98-105.
[8]	José Luiz Alves Silva, Alexandre Souza, Angela Pierre Vitória. Detection of functional diversity gradients and their geoclimatic filters is sensitive to data types (occurrence vs. abundance) and spatial scales (sites vs. regions) [J]. Plant Diversity, 2024, 46(06): 732-743.
[9]	Ling-Yun Wu, Shuang-Quan Huang, Ze-Yu Tong. Elevational and temporal patterns of pollination success in distylous and homostylous buckwheats (Fagopyrum) in the Hengduan Mountains [J]. Plant Diversity, 2024, 46(05): 661-670.
[10]	Fangbing Li, Hong Qian, Jordi Sardans, Dzhamal Y. Amishev, Zixuan Wang, Changyue Zhang, Tonggui Wu, Xiaoniu Xu, Xiao Tao, Xingzhao Huang. Evolutionary history shapes variation of wood density of tree species across the world [J]. Plant Diversity, 2024, 46(03): 283-293.
[11]	Hong Qian, Brent D. Mishler, Jian Zhang, Shenhua Qian. Global patterns and ecological drivers of taxonomic and phylogenetic endemism in angiosperm genera [J]. Plant Diversity, 2024, 46(02): 149-157.
[12]	Carlos A. Vargas, Marius Bottin, Tiina Sarkinen, James E. Richardson, Marcela Celis, Boris Villanueva, Adriana Sanchez. How to fill the biodiversity data gap: Is it better to invest in fieldwork or curation? [J]. Plant Diversity, 2024, 46(01): 39-48.
[13]	Wei Wang, Kun Xin, Yujun Chen, Yuechao Chen, Zhongmao Jiang, Nong Sheng, Baowen Liao, Yanmei Xiong. Spatio-temporal variation of water salinity in mangroves revealed by continuous monitoring and its relationship to floristic diversity [J]. Plant Diversity, 2024, 46(01): 134-143.
[14]	Hong Qian, Shenhua Qian. Geographic patterns of taxonomic and phylogenetic β-diversity of angiosperm genera in regional floras across the world [J]. Plant Diversity, 2023, 45(05): 491-500.
[15]	Hong Qian. Intercontinental comparison of phylogenetic relatedness in introduced plants at the transition from naturalization to invasion: A case study on the floras of South Africa and China [J]. Plant Diversity, 2023, 45(04): 363-368.