Global beta-diversity of angiosperm trees is shaped by Quaternary climate change
Wubing Xu, Wen‐Yong Guo, Josep M. Serra‐Diaz, Franziska Schrodt, Wolf L. Eiserhardt, Brian J. Enquist, Brian Maitner, Cory Merow, Cyrille Violle, Madhur Anand, Michaël Belluau, Hans Henrik Bruun, Chaeho Byun, Jane A. Catford, Bruno Enrico Leone Cerabolini, Eduardo Chacón‐Madrigal, Daniela Ciccarelli, J. Hans C. Cornelissen, Anh Tuan Dang‐Le, Ángel de Frutos, Arildo S. Dias, Aelton Biasi Giroldo, Álvaro G. Gutiérrez, Wesley Hattingh, Tianhua He, Peter Hietz, Nate Hough‐Snee, Steven Jansen, Jens Kattge, Benjamín Komac, Nathan J. B. Kraft, K. Krämer, Sandra Lavorel, Christopher H. Lusk, Adam R. Martin, Keping Ma, Maurizio Mencuccini, Sean T. Michaletz, Vanessa Minden, Akira Mori, Ülo Niinemets, Yusuke Onoda, Renske E. Onstein, Josep Peñuelas, Valério D. Pillar, Jan Písek, Matthew J. Pound, Bjorn J. M. Robroek, Brandon S. Schamp, Martijn Slot, Miao Sun, Ênio Sosinski, Nadejda A. Soudzilovskaia, Nelson Thiffault, Peter M. van Bodegom, Fons van der Plas, Jingming Zheng, Jens‐Christian Svenning, Alejandro Ordóñez
Abstract
As Earth's climate has varied strongly through geological time, studying the impacts of past climate change on biodiversity helps to understand the risks from future climate change. However, it remains unclear how paleoclimate shapes spatial variation in biodiversity. Here, we assessed the influence of Quaternary climate change on spatial dissimilarity in taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional composition among neighboring 200-kilometer cells (beta-diversity) for angiosperm trees worldwide. We found that larger glacial-interglacial temperature change was strongly associated with lower spatial turnover (species replacements) and higher nestedness (richness changes) components of beta-diversity across all three biodiversity facets. Moreover, phylogenetic and functional turnover was lower and nestedness higher than random expectations based on taxonomic beta-diversity in regions that experienced large temperature change, reflecting phylogenetically and functionally selective processes in species replacement, extinction, and colonization during glacial-interglacial oscillations. Our results suggest that future human-driven climate change could cause local homogenization and reduction in taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity of angiosperm trees worldwide.