Skip to content
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
general
Preserving the evolutionary potential of floras in biodiversity hotspots
Nature, Volume 445, No. 7129, Year 2007
Notification
URL copied to clipboard!
Description
One of the biggest challenges for conservation biology is to provide conservation planners with ways to prioritize effort. Much attention has been focused on biodiversity hotspots. However, the conservation of evolutionary process is now also acknowledged as a priority in the face of global change. Phylogenetic diversity (PD) is a biodiversity index that measures the length of evolutionary pathways that connect a given set of taxa. PD therefore identifies sets of taxa that maximize the accumulation of 'feature diversity'. Recent studies, however, concluded that taxon richness is a good surrogate for PD. Here we show taxon richness to be decoupled from PD, using a biome-wide phylogenetic analysis of the flora of an undisputed biodiversity hotspot - the Cape of South Africa. We demonstrate that this decoupling has real-world importance for conservation planning. Finally, using a database of medicinal and economic plant use, we demonstrate that PD protection is the best strategy for preserving feature diversity in the Cape. We should be able to use PD to identify those key regions that maximize future options, both for the continuing evolution of life on Earth and for the benefit of society. ©2007 Nature Publishing Group.
Authors & Co-Authors
Forest, Félix
South Africa, Pretoria
South African National Biodiversity Institute
South Africa, Cape Town
University of Cape Town
United Kingdom, Richmond
Jodrell Laboratory
Grenyer, Richard
United Kingdom, Richmond
Jodrell Laboratory
Rouget, Mathieu
South Africa, Pretoria
South African National Biodiversity Institute
Davies, T. Jonathan
United States, Charlottesville
University of Virginia
United States, Athens
University of Georgia
Cowling, Richard Mark
South Africa, Gqeberha
Nelson Mandela University
Faith, Daniel P.
Australia, Sydney
Australian Museum
Balmford, Andrew P.
United Kingdom, Cambridge
University of Cambridge
Manning, John Charles
South Africa, Pretoria
South African National Biodiversity Institute
Procheş, Şerban
South Africa, Stellenbosch
Stellenbosch University
van der Bank, Michelle
South Africa, Johannesburg
University of Johannesburg
Reeves, Gail
South Africa, Pretoria
South African National Biodiversity Institute
Hedderson, Terry A.J.
South Africa, Cape Town
University of Cape Town
Savolainen, Vincent
United Kingdom, Richmond
Jodrell Laboratory
Statistics
Citations: 849
Authors: 13
Affiliations: 10
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1038/nature05587
ISSN:
00280836
e-ISSN:
14764687
Study Locations
South Africa