A study explores how human modification of natural habitats influences amphibian diversity worldwide. Humans have altered natural environments around the globe, precipitating biodiversity loss and restructuring species assemblages. However, how habitat conversion affects the evolutionary history of species assemblages remains understudied. Justin Nowakowski and colleagues used data from 48 studies, which included 438 amphibian species across five continents, to examine the phylogenetic diversity of amphibians in natural and human-altered environments. Using a time-calibrated phylogenetic tree, the authors found that amphibian phylogenetic similarity was correlated with species response to habitat conversion, such that converted habitats supported species within the same taxonomic clades. Habitat conversion was associated with high species and lineage turnover that resulted in global phylogenetic homogenization, indicating that diverse amphibian species in natural habitats were replaced by amphibians from the same phylogenetic clades in converted habitats worldwide. The effect was pronounced in lowland tropical regions, where the authors propose that such patterns might be due to the large number of specialized species in the tropics. On average, habitat conversion resulted in a 13.5% decrease in phylogenetic diversity. According to the authors, the findings might aid conservation planning strategies.
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Article #17-14891: "Phylogenetic homogenization of amphibian assemblages in human-altered habitats across the globe," by A. Justin Nowakowski et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: A. Justin Nowakowski, University of California, Davis, CA; tel: 770-301-8215; e-mail: < nowakowskia@gmail.com >; Luke O. Frishkoff, University of Toronto, CANADA; tel: 541-972-6006; e-mail: < frishkol@gmail.com >
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences