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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
Phylogenetic conservatism in plant phenology
Journal of Ecology, Volume 101, No. 6, Year 2013
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Description
Phenological events - defined points in the life cycle of a plant or animal - have been regarded as highly plastic traits, reflecting flexible responses to various environmental cues. The ability of a species to track, via shifts in phenological events, the abiotic environment through time might dictate its vulnerability to future climate change. Understanding the predictors and drivers of phenological change is therefore critical. Here, we evaluated evidence for phylogenetic conservatism - the tendency for closely related species to share similar ecological and biological attributes - in phenological traits across flowering plants. We aggregated published and unpublished data on timing of first flower and first leaf, encompassing ̃4000 species at 23 sites across the Northern Hemisphere. We reconstructed the phylogeny for the set of included species, first, using the software program Phylomatic, and second, from DNA data. We then quantified phylogenetic conservatism in plant phenology within and across sites. We show that more closely related species tend to flower and leaf at similar times. By contrasting mean flowering times within and across sites, however, we illustrate that it is not the time of year that is conserved, but rather the phenological responses to a common set of abiotic cues. Our findings suggest that species cannot be treated as statistically independent when modelling phenological responses. Synthesis. Closely related species tend to resemble each other in the timing of their life-history events, a likely product of evolutionarily conserved responses to environmental cues. The search for the underlying drivers of phenology must therefore account for species' shared evolutionary histories. Closely related species tend to resemble each other in the timing of their life-history events, a likely product of evolutionarily conserved responses to environmental cues. The search for the underlying drivers of phenology must therefore account for species' shared evolutionary histories. © 2013 British Ecological Society.
Authors & Co-Authors
Davies, T. Jonathan
Canada, Montreal
Université Mcgill
Wolkovich, E. M.
Canada, Vancouver
The University of British Columbia
Kraft, Nathan J.B.
United States, College Park
University of Maryland, College Park
Salamin, Nicolas
Switzerland, Lausanne
Université de Lausanne Unil
Switzerland, Lausanne
Sib Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics
Ault, Toby R.
United States, Boulder
National Center for Atmospheric Research
Betancourt, J. L.
United States, Reston
United States Geological Survey
Bolmgren, Kjell
Sweden, Lund
Lunds Universitet
Sweden, Uppsala
Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet
Cleland, Elsa E.
United States, La Jolla
University of California, San Diego
Cook, Benjamin I.
United States, New York
Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies
United States, Palisades
Lamont-doherty Earth Observatory
Crimmins, Theresa M.
Unknown Affiliation
Mazer, Susan J.
United States, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara
Pau, Stephanie
United States, Tallahassee
Florida State University
Regetz, James
United States, Santa Barbara
National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis
Travers, Steven E.
United States, Fargo
North Dakota State University
Statistics
Citations: 177
Authors: 14
Affiliations: 19
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1111/1365-2745.12154
ISSN:
13652745
Research Areas
Environmental
Genetics And Genomics