Plant extinctions and introductions lead to phylogenetic and taxonomic homogenization of the European flora

0340072 - BÚ 2010 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Winter, M. - Schweiger, O. - Klotz, S. - Nentwig, W. - Andriopoulos, P. - Arianoutsou, M. - Basnou, C. - Delipetrou, P. - Didžiulis, V. - Hejda, Martin - Hulme, P. E. - Lambdon, P. W. - Pergl, Jan - Pyšek, Petr - Roy, D. B. - Kühn, I.
Plant extinctions and introductions lead to phylogenetic and taxonomic homogenization of the European flora.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Roč. 106, č. 51 (2009), s. 21721-21725. ISSN 0027-8424. E-ISSN 1091-6490
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT LC06073
Grant - others:Evropská komise(XE) SSPI-CT-2003–511202; Evropská komise(XE) GOCE-CT-2003–506675
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60050516
Keywords : plant invasions * extinctions * floristic homogenization
Subject RIV: EF - Botanics
Impact factor: 9.432, year: 2009

Human activities have altered the composition of biotas through two fundamental processes: native extinctions and alien introductions. Both processes affect the taxonomic (i.e., species identity) and phylogenetic (i.e., species evolutionary history) structure of species assemblages. Considering both native losses and alien additions in concert reveals that plant invasions in Europe since AD 1500 exceeded extinctions, resulting in (i) increased taxonomic diversity (i.e., species richness) but decreased phylogenetic diversity within European regions, and (ii) increased taxonomic and phylogenetic similarity among European regions. As a result, floras of many European regions have partly lost and will continue to lose their uniqueness. The results suggest that biodiversity needs to be assessed in terms of both species taxonomic and phylogenetic identity, but the latter is rarely used as a metric of the biodiversity dynamics.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0183394