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. 2020 Jun 24;287(1929):20200777.
doi: 10.1098/rspb.2020.0777. Epub 2020 Jun 17.

Changes in taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity in the Anthropocene

Daijiang Li  1 , Julian D Olden  2 , Julie L Lockwood  3 , Sydne Record  4 , Michael L McKinney  5 , Benjamin Baiser  1
Affiliations

Changes in taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity in the Anthropocene

Daijiang Li et al. Proc Biol Sci. .

Abstract

To better understand how ecosystems are changing, a multifaceted approach to measuring biodiversity that considers species richness (SR) and evolutionary history across spatial scales is needed. Here, we compiled 162 datasets for fish, bird and plant assemblages across the globe and measured how taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity changed at different spatial scales (within site α diversity and between sites spatial β diversity). Biodiversity change is measured from these datasets in three ways: across land use gradients, from species lists, and through sampling of the same locations across two time periods. We found that local SR and phylogenetic α diversity (Faith's PD (phylogenetic diversity)) increased for all taxonomic groups. However, when measured with a metric that is independent of SR (phylogenetic species variation, PSV), phylogenetic α diversity declined for all taxonomic groups. Land use datasets showed declines in SR, Faith's PD and PSV. For all taxonomic groups and data types, spatial taxonomic and phylogenetic β diversity decreased when measured with Sorensen dissimilarity and phylogenetic Sorensen dissimilarity, respectively, providing strong evidence of global biotic homogenization. The decoupling of α and β diversity, as well as taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity, highlights the need for a broader perspective on contemporary biodiversity changes. Conservation and environmental policy decisions thus need to consider biodiversity beyond local SR to protect biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Keywords: global change; homogenization; phylogenetic diversity; α diversity; β diversity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Geographical distribution of the 162 datasets used in this analysis. Colour shading reflects the number of datasets in each country, and the number of datasets per ocean is reported in the text. We did not plot exact locations because some datasets (e.g. species lists) cover a region and thus lack specific latitude/longitude locations. See Materials and methods for details and sources of the datasets. (Online version in colour.)
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Changes in biodiversity of different taxonomic groups. (a) Changes in taxonomic α diversity measured as species richness; (b) pairwise taxonomic β diversity measured as the turnover component of Sorensen dissimilarity; (c) phylogenetic α diversity measured as Faith's PD; (d) pairwise phylogenetic β diversity measured as the turnover component of phylogenetic Sorensen dissimilarity; (e) phylogenetic α diversity measured as PSV; and (f) pairwise phylogenetic β diversity measured as the phylogenetic component of phylogenetic community dissimilarity. Error bars show mean and 95% confidence intervals based on linear mixed models, and are red if the confidence interval does not include zero. Positive effect sizes indicate increases in diversity. The numbers in parentheses denote the number of studies. (Online version in colour.)
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Changes in biodiversity of different data types. (a) Changes in taxonomic α diversity measured as species richness; (b) pairwise taxonomic β diversity measured as the turnover component of Sorensen dissimilarity; (c) phylogenetic α diversity measured as Faith's PD; (d) pairwise phylogenetic β diversity measured as the turnover component of phylogenetic Sorensen dissimilarity; (e) phylogenetic α diversity measured as PSV; and (f) pairwise phylogenetic β diversity measured as the phylogenetic component of phylogenetic community dissimilarity. Error bars show mean and 95% confidence intervals based on linear mixed models, and are red if the confidence interval does not include zero. Positive effect sizes indicate increases in diversity. The numbers in parentheses denote the number of studies. For land use data, results here were derived from the land use gradient approach; see the electronic supplementary material, table S2 for results derived from the landscape approach. (Online version in colour.)
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Relationships between effect sizes of taxonomic diversity and phylogenetic diversity. (a) Phylogenetic α diversity measured as Faith's PD; (b) pairwise phylogenetic β diversity measured as the turnover component of phylogenetic Sorensen dissimilarity; (c) phylogenetic α diversity measured as PSV; and (d) pairwise phylogenetic β diversity measured as the phylogenetic component of phylogenetic community dissimilarity. The positive effect size suggests increases in diversity. Therefore, the grey area indicates decreases in both taxonomic diversity and phylogenetic diversity. Each dot represents the observed effect size for a dataset. Land use datasets consistently have reduced taxonomic α diversity. Most points in (b) and (d) are at the left side of the vertical line, suggesting taxonomic homogenization, a pattern confirmed by weighted linear mixed models. For land use data, results here were derived from the land use gradient approach. (Online version in colour.)
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