Phylogenetic Structure of Woody-Plant Communities

Yale University, New Haven CT

Investigators

Abstract

Phylogenetic Structure of Woody-Plant Communities Webb, Ackerly, & Donoghue; NSF proposal 0212873 The ecological communities of organisms found in nature have usually been treated as collections of independent species. However, the great advances made recently by phylogenetic biologists in understanding the "tree of life" mean that ecologists can now examine the evolutionary relationships among the species in their communities. Knowing this phylogenetic structure also enables ecologists to detect the processes organizing species membership in the communities, and thus provides a powerful new tool to understand species-rich systems. In the proposed research software tools will be developed for assembling and analyzing community phylogenetic structure, and will be applied to an endangered, rain forest tree community in Borneo, and to the Californian flora. A comparative survey of the phylogenetic structure of other plant communities around the world will also be performed. The proposed research will promote a closer integration of evolutionary biology and community ecology. .