Post on 31-Jul-2015
Assessing community assembly in a Papua New Guinea forest using spatial and phylogenetic
turnover
Gaurav Kandlikar, John Vincent, and George Weiblen
University of Minnesota, Dept. of Plant Biology
Outline
• Global patterns of biodiversity• Characterizing a Papua New Guinea forest• Phylogenetics • Future research
Photo: Wanang plot, CTFS
Photo: Wabikon Lake plot, CTFS
23 forest plots16 countries> 75 institutions8,500 tree species3 million trees
Global Forest Observatories: an international network
monitoring the health of forests
Forest dynamics plots
• 50 hectares (1 ha = 100m x 100m)
• all woody stems >= 1 cm DBH tagged, mapped, measured, and identified (“census”)
• plot recensus every 5 years• enables cross-continental
tropical forest comparison
Photos: Google, J B Vincent
Botanical Progress at Wanang
• 50 ha with trees tagged, mapped & measured• 31 ha data-based identified to species• 171,858 stems in 31 ha• 30 ha including >500 species
Images: New Guinea Binatang Research Center
A Field Guide to PNG trees
Relational Databasestaxon name image local name local usemap
taxon name
map
image
local name
local use
Mallotus peltatus Bambusa forbesii
Ficus concocephalifolia Ficus hahliana
Celtis latifolia
What explains the spatial patterns of different tree species?
A
B
C
D
E
Phylogenetics
• Phylogenies help us interpret complex patterns
• Simple metrics of biodiversity (eg. species richness) ignore evolutionary relationships
Swenson et al. 2012
Estimating a phylogeny
Phylogeny of PNG trees
Photo: T.J.S. Whitfeld
Expanded phylogeny
Mahogany trees
Future directions
Ficus concocephalifolia Ficus hahliana
Relationship of Ficus species
Summary
• One forest on one island has >500 species of trees
• Different species of trees tend to grow in different parts of the forest– Why?
• To what extent does the evolutionary history of a species explain its distribution?
Acknowledgements• Dr. George Weiblen• John Vincent• Erin Treiber• UMN Office of
Undergraduate Research
Questions?