University of Plymouth PEARL https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk 04 University of Plymouth Research Theses 01 Research Theses Main Collection 2007 THE DISTRIBUTION OF PHYLOGENETIC DIVERSITY OF MAMMALS IN MEXICO AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR CONSERVATION ZAYAS, ENA EDITH MATA http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/2342 University of Plymouth All content in PEARL is protected by copyright law. Author manuscripts are made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the details provided on the item record or document. In the absence of an open licence (e.g. Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher or author. THE DISTRIBUTION OF PHYLOGENETIC DIVERSITY OF MAMMALS IN MEXICO AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR CONSERVATION by ENA EDITH MATA ZAYAS A thesis submitted to the University of Plymouth in partial fulfilment for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of Biological Sciences Fa culty of Science 2007 University of Plymouth Library Abstract The current rate of biodiversity loss has stimulated studies aimed at identifying areas of concentration of biodiversity where conservation efforts can be targeted. Phylogeny has become an important element in conservation either to preserve areas of high phylogenetic diversity (and therefore evolutionary history) or to identify species attributes that make them prone to become endangered or at risk of extinction. This dissertation dealt with the quantification of phylogenetic diversity of Mexican mammals, its geographic distribution, and its correlation with both the life history attributes of the species and selected characteristics of the environment. In order to do this, I had to construct a complete and reasonably well-resolved phylogeny of the 416 species of terrestrial mammals. This has allowed assessing the benefits and limitations, as well as the similarities and differences, of the two indices of phylogenetic information currently in use: Faith's index of phylogenetic diversity (PO) and Clarke & Warwick's index of taxonomic distinctiveness (TO). This has also allowing to evaluate the degree of correspondence between the distribution of these indices and the distribution of the natural protected areas of Mexico and to identify the minimum number of reserves (and their location) that would be required to protect all 416 species. Although these indices show a high degree of correlation, by emphasising slightly different aspects of the topology of the classification, they sometimes differ in their identification of priority areas. The results show that the value of either PO or TO is determined primarily by species­ richness ( S) and secondarily by the topology of the phylogeny. In general, areas of high phylogenetic complexity (HPA, those made up of distantly-related taxa, independent of their number) are found mainly in regions traditionally recognised as worthy of conservation, such as the Transvolcanic Belt and the tropical South-East region. Comparative analysis employing the method of independent contrasts showed the correlation between different life history attributes of the species, as well as the correlation between these life history attributes and some characteristics of the environment (such as latitudinal range, average temperature and average precipitation in the distribution of each species). This permitted exploration of the benefits and limitations of life histories as subjects for conservation. iii List of Contents Copyright Statement ............................................................................................................ i Abstract. ............................................................................................................................... iii List of Contents .................................................................................................................. iv List of Tables ....................................................................................................................... ix List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... xi List of Equations ................................................................................................................ xvi List of Abbreviations/Acronyms ...................................................................................... xvi Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... xvii Author's declaration ........................................................................................................xviii CHAPTER 1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION ............................................................ ! 1.1 BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................ 2 1.2 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS ............................................................................................. 3 CHAPTER 2. CURRENT PRIORITIES IN THE CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY ........................................................................................................... 6 2.1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 6 2.1.1 Definition of Biodiversity .................. ........................ .. .................................................... 6 2.1.2 Biodiversity Measures for Conservation ... ..... ......................... ..... .. ........................ ........ 7 2.2 PHYLOGENY AND CONSERVATION ................................................................................ 10 2.2.1 Phylogenetic Diversity ..................................................................... ..................... ........ 13 2.2 .2 Ta xonomic Di stinctiveness ..................... ... ................ .... ........... .. ................... ............... 13 2.2.3 Conservation .. .... .... .. ........................... ... ... ....... ... .... ..................................................... 15 2.3 THE DISTRIBUTION OF BIODIVERSITY ............................................................................ 17 iv 2.3.1 Megadiverse Countries and Mexico .. .................. .. ... ... ........ ... ............................................. 19 2.3 PRACTICAL APPROACHES TO PROTECTED AREA DESIGNATION ...................................... 21 2.4 SUMMARY ................................................... ........................................................ .. ...... 24 CHAPTER 3 . CONABIO'S BIODIVERSITY DATABASES .............. 000000 00 00 ......... 27 3.1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 27 3.2. METHODS .................................................................................................................... 29 CONABIO's Database: a ca se study ............ ............................................... .... ............. .. ..... ........... 29 3.3. RESULTS ....................................................................................................................... 34 3.3.1 Gymnosperms ....... ..................... ................................................................................. 34 3.3.2 Angiosperms ...................................................................... .... ................... ................... 36 3.3.3 Mammals .......................... .......................... .................................. ............................... 37 3.4. DISCUSSION ........................................................................... .. .................................... 38 CHAPTER 4. TAXONOMY AND PHYLOGENY OF MEXICAN MAMMALS 000000 48 4.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 48 4.2 METHODS .. .................................................................................................................. 51 4.2.1 Taxonomic Classi fica tion .................................................................... .......................... 51 4.2.2 Phylogenet ic Tree ..... ................... .. .......... ............. .. ...................................................... 51 4.3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ............................................................................................ 53 4.3.1 The Taxonomy of M exica n Mammals (t) .................. ........ ....................... ........ .. .......... 53 4.3.2 A Phylogenetic Supertree of M exican Mammals (p) .. ...... .. .... ................. ................ .... 72 CHAPTER 5. PHYLOGENETIC DIVERSITY OF MEXICAN MAMMALS 00 . ........ 92 5.1. INTRODUCTION ............................. .......... ..................................................................... 92 5.1.1 Measures of Diversity Ba sed on Relatedness of Species ............................................. 93 5.1.2 Diversity Skewness (05) .. .. .................................................................... ....................... 98 V 5.2. METHODS ............................... .. ..................................... ............................................ 100 5.2.1 Data Set ............................... ......................... ............................ ..... .............. ............... 100 5.2.2 Diversity Analyses .................................................. ................................ ...