Abstract Detail

The Future of Herbarium Genetics and Genomics

Thornhill, Andrew [1], Baldwin, Bruce G. [2], Freyman, William A. [3], Nosratinia, Sonia [1], Morueta-Holme, Naia [4], Kling, Matthew [4], Baxter, David [1], Madsen, Tom [2], Ackerly, David [4], Mishler, Brent D. [5].

Hotspots of phylogenetic richness and endemism in the California flora.

California is recognized as a biodiversity hotspot and has a rich history of research on its vascular flora. Terms such as neo- and paleo-endemism were first used to describe significant elements of the California flora by Stebbins and Major and later adapted worldwide. Raven and Axelrod proposed various hypotheses as to how the diverse Californian flora has assembled over time. All of these studies were carried-out using pre-cladistic taxonomy and species as the operational unit. As part of the ongoing California Plant Phylodiversity Project (http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/bryolab/CPPP/), we applied novel phylogenetic techniques to contrast with these past studies. We used a large spatial dataset comprised of specimen-based distributional data from the Consortium of California Herbaria and other collection databases, at a scale of 15 km grid cells. Considerable effort was made to clean the spatial dataset to represent the natural range of the full California vascular flora; 1.38 million geo-referenced records remained after cleaning. We assembled a phylogenetic data matrix for 1083 OTUs (i.e., terminal clades representing genera or monophyletic parts of genera) for 9 genes, beginning with data from GenBank and adding 1182 new gene sequences targeted to fill in data gaps. A maximum likelihood phylogeny of California plants was constructed. These two datasets were used to find regions of significant phylogenetic diversity (PD) and phylogenetic endemism (PE) within California. We show results using recently developed metrics Relative Phylogenetic Diversity (RPD) and Relative Phylogenetic Endemism (RPE), as well as Categorical Analysis of Neo- And Paleo-Endemism (CANAPE). Observed biodiversity is not necessarily an indicator of significant biodiversity and therefore should not be used alone. We used a spatial randomization to develop null hypotheses used for statistical tests of the above indices. Using theses tests we can determine whether more or less of the phylogeny occurs in an area than expected (PD), whether branch lengths in an area are longer or shorter than expected (RPD), and whether concentrations of long or short-branched endemism occurs in an area than expected (CANAPE). Joint interpretation of patterns of significance in these complementary measures can be used to help infer ecological processes and the evolutionary history of California plants, and are useful for practical purposes in conservation prioritization.

Related Links:
California Plant Phylodiversity Project

1 - University of California, Berkeley, University and Jepson Herbaria, 1001 Valley Life Sciences Building # 2465, Berkeley, CA, 94720-2465, USA
2 - University of California, Berkeley, University and Jepson Herbaria/Integrative Biology, 1001 Valley Life Sciences Building # 2465, Berkeley, CA, 94720-2465, USA
3 - University of California Berkeley, Jepson Herbarium and Department of Integrative Biology, 1001 Valley Life Sciences Bldg. #2465, Berkeley, CA, 94720-2465, USA
4 - University of California, Berkeley, Integrative Biology, 1001 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, CA, 94720-2465, USA
5 - University Of California, Berkeley, University and Jepson Herbaria, 1001 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, CA, 94720-2464, USA

Keywords:
California flora
Spatial phylogenetics
Biodiverse software
diversity
endemism.

Presentation Type: Symposium Presentation
Session: SY04, The Future of Herbarium Genetics and Genomics
Location: Chatham Ballroom - B/Savannah International Trade and Convention Center
Date: Monday, August 1st, 2016
Time: 2:45 PM
Number: SY04004
Abstract ID:362
Candidate for Awards:None