
Global decoupling of functional and phylogenetic diversity in plant communities
- Author
- Georg J. A. Haehn, Gabriella Damasceno, Esteban Alvarez-Davila, Isabelle Aubin, Marijn Bauters (UGent) , Erwin Bergmeier, Idoia Biurrun, Anne D. Bjorkman, Gianmaria Bonari, Zoltan Botta-Dukat, Juan A. Campos, Andraz Carni, Milan Chytry, Renata Custerevska, Andre Luis de Gasper, Michele De Sanctis, Juergen Dengler, Jiri Dolezal, Mohamed A. El-Sheikh, Manfred Finckh, Antonio Galan-de-Mera, Emmanuel Garbolino, Hamid Gholizadeh, Valentin Golub, Sylvia Haider, Mohamed Z. Hatim, Bruno Herault, Juergen Homeier, Ute Jandt, Florian Jansen, Anke Jentsch, Jens Kattge, Michael Kessler, Larisa Khanina, Holger Kreft, Filip Kuzmic, Jonathan Lenoir, Jesper Erenskjold Moeslund, Ladislav Mucina, Alireza Naqinezhad, Jalil Noroozi, Aaron Perez-Haase, Oliver L. Phillips, Valerio D. Pillar, Gonzalo Rivas-Torres, Eszter Ruprecht, Brody Sandel, Marco Schmidt, Ute Schmiedel, Stefan Schnitzer, Franziska Schrodt, Urban Silc, Ben Sparrow, Maria Sporbert, Zvjezdana Stancic, Ben Strohbach, Jens-Christian Svenning, Cindy Q. Tang, Zhiyao Tang, Alexander Christian Vibrans, Cyrille Violle, Donald Waller, Desalegn Wana, Hua-Feng Wang, Timothy Whitfeld, Georg Zizka, Francesco Maria Sabatini and Helge Bruelheide
- Organization
- Abstract
- Plant communities are composed of species that differ both in functional traits and evolutionary histories. As species' functional traits partly result from their individual evolutionary history, we expect the functional diversity of communities to increase with increasing phylogenetic diversity. This expectation has only been tested at local scales and generally for specific growth forms or specific habitat types, for example, grasslands. Here we compare standardized effect sizes for functional and phylogenetic diversity among 1,781,836 vegetation plots using the global sPlot database. In contrast to expectations, we find functional diversity and phylogenetic diversity to be only weakly and negatively correlated, implying a decoupling between these two facets of diversity. While phylogenetic diversity is higher in forests and reflects recent climatic conditions (1981 to 2010), functional diversity tends to reflect recent and past climatic conditions (21,000 years ago). The independent nature of functional and phylogenetic diversity makes it crucial to consider both aspects of diversity when analysing ecosystem functioning and prioritizing conservation efforts. Functional diversity and phylogenetic diversity are expected to be positively correlated. Here the authors show that the covariation between these metrics in vascular plant communities around the world is often either inconsistent or negative.
- Keywords
- ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITIES, SMOOTHING PARAMETER, TRAIT, FERNS, RELATEDNESS, RADIATION, PATTERNS, FORESTS, MODEL, TOOL, Biodiversity, Evolutionary ecology, QForestLab
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-01JHT9G0VB3AM6A7SX70MVBBT5
- MLA
- Haehn, Georg J. A., et al. “Global Decoupling of Functional and Phylogenetic Diversity in Plant Communities.” NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION, vol. 9, 2025, pp. 237–48, doi:10.1038/s41559-024-02589-0.
- APA
- Haehn, G. J. A., Damasceno, G., Alvarez-Davila, E., Aubin, I., Bauters, M., Bergmeier, E., … Bruelheide, H. (2025). Global decoupling of functional and phylogenetic diversity in plant communities. NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION, 9, 237–248. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02589-0
- Chicago author-date
- Haehn, Georg J. A., Gabriella Damasceno, Esteban Alvarez-Davila, Isabelle Aubin, Marijn Bauters, Erwin Bergmeier, Idoia Biurrun, et al. 2025. “Global Decoupling of Functional and Phylogenetic Diversity in Plant Communities.” NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION 9: 237–48. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02589-0.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Haehn, Georg J. A., Gabriella Damasceno, Esteban Alvarez-Davila, Isabelle Aubin, Marijn Bauters, Erwin Bergmeier, Idoia Biurrun, Anne D. Bjorkman, Gianmaria Bonari, Zoltan Botta-Dukat, Juan A. Campos, Andraz Carni, Milan Chytry, Renata Custerevska, Andre Luis de Gasper, Michele De Sanctis, Juergen Dengler, Jiri Dolezal, Mohamed A. El-Sheikh, Manfred Finckh, Antonio Galan-de-Mera, Emmanuel Garbolino, Hamid Gholizadeh, Valentin Golub, Sylvia Haider, Mohamed Z. Hatim, Bruno Herault, Juergen Homeier, Ute Jandt, Florian Jansen, Anke Jentsch, Jens Kattge, Michael Kessler, Larisa Khanina, Holger Kreft, Filip Kuzmic, Jonathan Lenoir, Jesper Erenskjold Moeslund, Ladislav Mucina, Alireza Naqinezhad, Jalil Noroozi, Aaron Perez-Haase, Oliver L. Phillips, Valerio D. Pillar, Gonzalo Rivas-Torres, Eszter Ruprecht, Brody Sandel, Marco Schmidt, Ute Schmiedel, Stefan Schnitzer, Franziska Schrodt, Urban Silc, Ben Sparrow, Maria Sporbert, Zvjezdana Stancic, Ben Strohbach, Jens-Christian Svenning, Cindy Q. Tang, Zhiyao Tang, Alexander Christian Vibrans, Cyrille Violle, Donald Waller, Desalegn Wana, Hua-Feng Wang, Timothy Whitfeld, Georg Zizka, Francesco Maria Sabatini, and Helge Bruelheide. 2025. “Global Decoupling of Functional and Phylogenetic Diversity in Plant Communities.” NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION 9: 237–248. doi:10.1038/s41559-024-02589-0.
- Vancouver
- 1.Haehn GJA, Damasceno G, Alvarez-Davila E, Aubin I, Bauters M, Bergmeier E, et al. Global decoupling of functional and phylogenetic diversity in plant communities. NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION. 2025;9:237–48.
- IEEE
- [1]G. J. A. Haehn et al., “Global decoupling of functional and phylogenetic diversity in plant communities,” NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION, vol. 9, pp. 237–248, 2025.
@article{01JHT9G0VB3AM6A7SX70MVBBT5, abstract = {{Plant communities are composed of species that differ both in functional traits and evolutionary histories. As species' functional traits partly result from their individual evolutionary history, we expect the functional diversity of communities to increase with increasing phylogenetic diversity. This expectation has only been tested at local scales and generally for specific growth forms or specific habitat types, for example, grasslands. Here we compare standardized effect sizes for functional and phylogenetic diversity among 1,781,836 vegetation plots using the global sPlot database. In contrast to expectations, we find functional diversity and phylogenetic diversity to be only weakly and negatively correlated, implying a decoupling between these two facets of diversity. While phylogenetic diversity is higher in forests and reflects recent climatic conditions (1981 to 2010), functional diversity tends to reflect recent and past climatic conditions (21,000 years ago). The independent nature of functional and phylogenetic diversity makes it crucial to consider both aspects of diversity when analysing ecosystem functioning and prioritizing conservation efforts. Functional diversity and phylogenetic diversity are expected to be positively correlated. Here the authors show that the covariation between these metrics in vascular plant communities around the world is often either inconsistent or negative.}}, author = {{Haehn, Georg J. A. and Damasceno, Gabriella and Alvarez-Davila, Esteban and Aubin, Isabelle and Bauters, Marijn and Bergmeier, Erwin and Biurrun, Idoia and Bjorkman, Anne D. and Bonari, Gianmaria and Botta-Dukat, Zoltan and Campos, Juan A. and Carni, Andraz and Chytry, Milan and Custerevska, Renata and de Gasper, Andre Luis and De Sanctis, Michele and Dengler, Juergen and Dolezal, Jiri and El-Sheikh, Mohamed A. and Finckh, Manfred and Galan-de-Mera, Antonio and Garbolino, Emmanuel and Gholizadeh, Hamid and Golub, Valentin and Haider, Sylvia and Hatim, Mohamed Z. and Herault, Bruno and Homeier, Juergen and Jandt, Ute and Jansen, Florian and Jentsch, Anke and Kattge, Jens and Kessler, Michael and Khanina, Larisa and Kreft, Holger and Kuzmic, Filip and Lenoir, Jonathan and Moeslund, Jesper Erenskjold and Mucina, Ladislav and Naqinezhad, Alireza and Noroozi, Jalil and Perez-Haase, Aaron and Phillips, Oliver L. and Pillar, Valerio D. and Rivas-Torres, Gonzalo and Ruprecht, Eszter and Sandel, Brody and Schmidt, Marco and Schmiedel, Ute and Schnitzer, Stefan and Schrodt, Franziska and Silc, Urban and Sparrow, Ben and Sporbert, Maria and Stancic, Zvjezdana and Strohbach, Ben and Svenning, Jens-Christian and Tang, Cindy Q. and Tang, Zhiyao and Vibrans, Alexander Christian and Violle, Cyrille and Waller, Donald and Wana, Desalegn and Wang, Hua-Feng and Whitfeld, Timothy and Zizka, Georg and Sabatini, Francesco Maria and Bruelheide, Helge}}, issn = {{2397-334X}}, journal = {{NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION}}, keywords = {{ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITIES,SMOOTHING PARAMETER,TRAIT,FERNS,RELATEDNESS,RADIATION,PATTERNS,FORESTS,MODEL,TOOL,Biodiversity,Evolutionary ecology,QForestLab}}, language = {{eng}}, pages = {{237--248}}, title = {{Global decoupling of functional and phylogenetic diversity in plant communities}}, url = {{http://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02589-0}}, volume = {{9}}, year = {{2025}}, }
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