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Abstract Detail


Conservation Biology

Lipka, Carrie A. [1], Sanderson, Michael [2], Wojciechowski, Martin F. [3].

Estimating the phylogenetic diversity of floras: a comparison of the Huachuca Mountains of Arizona and the White Mountains of California.

The conservation of biological diversity depends on estimating as well as preserving patterns of variation in nature. Phylogenetic diversity (PD) is one index used to measure diversity that takes phylogenetic relatedness into account, avoiding the problem of overcounting close relatives or undercounting dramatically divergent distant relatives. PD is the sum of the branch lengths of the subtree induced by a sample of taxa, such as those found in a community or flora. In this study we are investigating the PD of all species in Rosaceae and Fabaceae that are native to the Huachuca Mountains of southeast Arizona and the White Mountains of eastern California. Based on the most recent floristic treatments, the total native vascular plant diversity of the Huachucas is 994 species/476 genera (Fabaceae, 97/35; Rosaceae, 19/9) while that of the Whites is 761 species/293 genera (Fabaceae, 44/10; Rosaceae, 31/17). PD was estimated using inferred time-calibrated branch lengths based on phylogenetic analyses of complete sequences of the plastid matK gene derived from herbarium and field collected samples of taxa native to these two mountain ranges to supplement recently published matK data sets. Currently, we have sampled ca. 50% of the taxa from these two families in the floras of the Huachuca and White Mountains. Efforts to sample all remaining taxa are in progress. Comparisons of calculated PD values for each family to other measures of diversity (e.g., species richness) will be discussed. Creation of phylogenies of entire floras or plant communities will allow us to investigate not only diversity patterns within and between communities, but other evolutionary and ecological aspects that affect community assembly, structure, diversification and extinction patterns.


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1 - Arizona State University, School of Life Sciences, Tempe, Arizona, 85287, USA
2 - University of Arizona, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA
3 - Arizona State University, School of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 874501, Tempe, Arizona, 85287-4501, USA

Keywords:
none specified

Presentation Type: Poster:Posters for Topics
Session: P
Location: Exhibit Hall (Northeast, Southwest & Southeast)/Hilton
Date: Sunday, July 8th, 2007
Time: 8:00 AM
Number: P65004
Abstract ID:1707


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