title: Phylogenetic turnover along local environmental gradients in tropical forest communities.
abstract: While the importance of local-scale habitat niches in shaping tree species turnover along environmental gradients in tropical forests is well appreciated, relatively little is known about the influence of phylogenetic signal in species' habitat niches in shaping local community structure. We used detailed maps of the soil resource and topographic variation within eight 24-50 ha tropical forest plots combined with species phylogenies created from the APG III phylogeny to examine how phylogenetic beta diversity (indicating the degree of phylogenetic similarity of two communities) was related to environmental gradients within tropical tree communities. Using distance-based redundancy analysis we found that phylogenetic beta diversity, expressed as either nearest neighbor distance or mean pairwise distance, was significantly related to both soil and topographic variation in all study sites. In general, more phylogenetic beta diversity within a forest plot was explained by environmental variables this was expressed as nearest neighbor distance versus mean pairwise distance (3.0-10.3 % and 0.4-8.8 % of variation explained among plots, respectively), and more variation was explained by soil resource variables than topographic variables using either phylogenetic beta diversity metric. We also found that patterns of phylogenetic beta diversity expressed as nearest neighbor distance were consistent with previously observed patterns of niche similarity among congeneric species pairs in these plots. These results indicate the importance of phylogenetic signal in local habitat niches in shaping the phylogenetic structure of tropical tree communities, especially at the level of close phylogenetic neighbors, where similarity in habitat niches is most strongly preserved.
authors.affiliation: Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, University of Illinois, 505 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana, IL, 61801, USA. cabaldeck@gmail.com.|Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois, 505 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana, IL, 61801, USA. cabaldeck@gmail.com.
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Baldeck
authors.affiliation: Département des sciences biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, C.P. 8888, Succ. Centre-ville, Montréal, QC, H3C3P8, Canada.
authors.forename: S W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Kembel
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, 202 Life Sciences Building, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA.
authors.forename: K E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Harms
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural Resources, 16 Fernow Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Yavitt
authors.affiliation: Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, P.O. BCKV Campus Main Office, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal, 741252, India.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: John
authors.affiliation: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado Postal 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancon, Republic of Panama.
authors.forename: B L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, 20400, Sri Lanka.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Madawala
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, 20400, Sri Lanka.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gunatilleke
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, 20400, Sri Lanka.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gunatilleke
authors.affiliation: National Parks, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation Department, Chatuchak, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bunyavejchewin
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Science and Technology, Thammasat University (Rangsit), Klongluang, Patumtani, 12121, Thailand.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kiratiprayoon
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Plantation and Agrotechnology, University Technology MARA, 40450, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yaacob
authors.affiliation: Forest Environment Division, Forest Research Institute Malaysia, 52109, Kepong, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: M N N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Supardi
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Ecología de Plantas y Herbario QCA, Escuela de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Apartado 17-01-2184, Quito, Ecuador.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Valencia
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Ecología de Plantas y Herbario QCA, Escuela de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Apartado 17-01-2184, Quito, Ecuador.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Navarrete
authors.affiliation: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado Postal 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancon, Republic of Panama.|Center for Tropical Forest Science, Arnold Arboretum Asia Program, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant and Animal Sciences, University of Buea, P.O. Box 63, Buea, Republic of Cameroon.
authors.forename: G B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Chuyong
authors.affiliation: Center for Tropical Forest Science, Arnold Arboretum Asia Program, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kenfack
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331-2902, USA.
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois, 505 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana, IL, 61801, USA.|Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado Postal 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancon, Republic of Panama.
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Dalling
mesh_terms: D017753:Ecosystem; D065928:Forests; D010802:Phylogeny; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry; D014197:Trees; D014329:Tropical Climate
chemical_list: D012987:Soil
keywords: Center for tropical forest science; Distance-based redundancy analysis; Phylogenetic beta diversity; Phylogenetic community structure; Phylomatic