Lack of phylogenetic signals within environmental niches of tropical tree species across life stages.
The lasting imprint of phylogenetic history on current day ecological patterns has long intrigued biologists. Over the past decade ecologists have increasingly sought to quantify phylogenetic signals in environmental niche preferences and, especially, traits to help uncover the mechanisms driving plant community assembly. However, relatively little is known about how phylogenetic patterns in environmental niches and traits compare, leaving significant uncertainty about the ecological implications of trait-based analyses. We examined phylogenetic signals within known environmental niches of 64 species, at seedling and adult life stages, in a Chinese tropical forest, to test whether local environmental niches had consistent relationships with phylogenies. Our analyses show that local environmental niches are highly phylogenetically labile for both seedlings and adult trees, with closely related species occupying niches that are no more similar than expected by random chance. These findings contrast with previous trait-based studies in the same forest, suggesting that phylogenetic signals in traits might not a reliable guide to niche preferences or, therefore, to community assembly processes in some ecosystems, like the tropical seasonal rainforest in this study.
Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Caicai
C
Zhang
Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, China.
Jie
J
Yang
Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, China.
Liqing
L
Sha
Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Xiuqin
X
Ci
Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, China.
Jie
J
Li
Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, China.
Min
M
Cao
School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Calum
C
Brown
Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, China.|Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, USA.
Nathan G
NG
Swenson
Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, China.
Luxiang
L
Lin
D000071421:Life History Traits; D010802:Phylogeny; D065947:Rainforest; D014197:Trees / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*