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Climatic and biogeographical drivers of functional diversity in the flora of the Canary Islands

Hanz, Dagmar M.; Cutts, Vanessa; Barajas-Barbosa, Martha Paola; Algar, Adam C.; Beierkuhnlein, Carl; Fernández-Palacios, José María; Field, Richard; Kreft, Holger; Steinbauer, Manuel J.; Weigelt, Patrick; Irl, Severin D.H.; Davies, Jonathan

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Authors

Dagmar M. Hanz

Vanessa Cutts

Martha Paola Barajas-Barbosa

Adam C. Algar

Carl Beierkuhnlein

José María Fernández-Palacios

Holger Kreft

Manuel J. Steinbauer

Patrick Weigelt

Severin D.H. Irl

Jonathan Davies



Abstract

Aim: Functional traits can help us to elucidate biogeographical and ecological processes driving assemblage structure. We analysed the functional diversity of plant species of different evolutionary origins across an island archipelago, along environmental gradients and across geological age, to assess functional aspects of island biogeographical theory. Location: Canary Islands, Spain. Major taxa studied: Spermatophytes. Time period: Present day. Methods: We collected data for four traits (plant height, leaf length, flower length and fruit length) associated with resource acquisition, competitive ability, reproduction and dispersal ability of 893 endemic, non-endemic native and alien plant species (c.43% of the Canary Island flora) from the literature. Linking these traits to species occurrences and composition across a 500m×500m grid, we calculated functional diversity for endemic, non-endemic native and alien assemblages using multidimensional functional hypervolumes and related the resulting patterns to climatic (humidity) and island biogeographical (geographical isolation, topographic complexity and geological age) gradients. Results: Trait space of endemic and non-endemic native species overlapped considerably, and alien species added novel trait combinations, expanding the overall functional space of the Canary Islands. We found that functional diversity of endemic plant assemblages was highest in geographically isolated and humid grid cells. Functional diversity of non-endemic native assemblages was highest in less isolated and humid grid cells. In contrast, functional diversity of alien assemblages was highest in arid ecosystems. Topographic complexity and geological age had only a subordinate effect on functional diversity across floristic groups. Main conclusions: We found that endemic and non-endemic native island species possess similar traits, whereas alien species tend to expand functional space in ecosystems where they have been introduced. The spatial distribution of the functional diversity of floristic groups is very distinct across environmental gradients, indicating that species assemblages of different evolutionary origins thrive functionally in dissimilar habitats.

Citation

Hanz, D. M., Cutts, V., Barajas-Barbosa, M. P., Algar, A. C., Beierkuhnlein, C., Fernández-Palacios, J. M., …Davies, J. (2022). Climatic and biogeographical drivers of functional diversity in the flora of the Canary Islands. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 31(7), 1313-1331. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13507

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Mar 27, 2022
Online Publication Date Apr 11, 2022
Publication Date 2022-07
Deposit Date Apr 17, 2022
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Global Ecology and Biogeography
Print ISSN 1466-822X
Electronic ISSN 1466-8238
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 31
Issue 7
Pages 1313-1331
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13507
Keywords Ecology; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Global and Planetary Change
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/7767060
Publisher URL https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/geb.13507

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