Disparate recovery of phylogenetic diversity across taxa during tropical rainforest regeneration

Tropical forests are highly threatened habitats with the capacity to recover after disturbance. We studied the recovery of phylogenetic diversity (PD) and phylogenetic community structure in plants and animals along a chronosequence of regeneration. We tested expected phylogenetic patterns through succession, including a slower recovery of PD compared with species richness (SR), increasing phylogenetic overdispersion with regeneration time, and the role of environmental filtering and landscape in promoting phylogenetic clustering and overdispersion. PD recovery occurred after SR for only four out of eight groups. Frugivorous and invertivorous birds showed increasing phylogenetic overdispersion during succession, while frogs, bees and trees instead showed a tendency for increasing phylogenetic clustering. Phylogenetic clustering was mainly related to environmental factors during early and late regeneration. Phylogenetic overdispersion during late regeneration was driven by the distance to old-growth forests only in frugivorous birds. Our results show the complex nature of succession in tropical forests, reflecting idiosyncratic patterns of PD and phylogenetic community structure recovery after disturbance for plants and animals. However, they also show that PD can recover relatively rapidly under natural regeneration, suggesting that the studied communities are resilient to disturbance from an evolutionary perspective.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences
Published
2026-03-11
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2025.2231
Primary Topic
Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

Funders

Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

Disparate recovery of phylogenetic diversity across taxa during tropical rainforest regeneration

Alexander Keller, Matthias Schleuning, Karen Pedersen, Jörg Müller et al.
Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences
Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
article

Disparate recovery of phylogenetic diversity across taxa during tropical rainforest regeneration

Alexander Keller, Matthias Schleuning, Karen Pedersen, Jörg Müller, Ugo Mendes Diniz, Karla Neira-Salamea, Eike Lena Neuschulz, Anna R. Landim, Mark‐Oliver Rödel, David A. Donoso, Felicity L. Newell, Nico Blüthgen, Juan Ernesto Guevara, Nina Grella, Sebastián Escobar, Marco Tschapka, Gunnar Brehm, Santiago Erazo, Santiago Fernando Burneo, María-José Endara, Heike Feldhaar, Sara D. Leonhardt, Diego Marín-Armijos
article en

Abstract

Tropical forests are highly threatened habitats with the capacity to recover after disturbance. We studied the recovery of phylogenetic diversity (PD) and phylogenetic community structure in plants and animals along a chronosequence of regeneration. We tested expected phylogenetic patterns through succession, including a slower recovery of PD compared with species richness (SR), increasing phylogenetic overdispersion with regeneration time, and the role of environmental filtering and landscape in promoting phylogenetic clustering and overdispersion. PD recovery occurred after SR for only four out of eight groups. Frugivorous and invertivorous birds showed increasing phylogenetic overdispersion during succession, while frogs, bees and trees instead showed a tendency for increasing phylogenetic clustering. Phylogenetic clustering was mainly related to environmental factors during early and late regeneration. Phylogenetic overdispersion during late regeneration was driven by the distance to old-growth forests only in frugivorous birds. Our results show the complex nature of succession in tropical forests, reflecting idiosyncratic patterns of PD and phylogenetic community structure recovery after disturbance for plants and animals. However, they also show that PD can recover relatively rapidly under natural regeneration, suggesting that the studied communities are resilient to disturbance from an evolutionary perspective.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological SciencesVol. 293(2066)
Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (EC), Goethe University Frankfurt (DE), University of Bern (CH), Bern University of Applied Sciences (CH), Goethe-Institute United Kingdom (GB), Philipps University of Marburg (DE), Schiller International University (FR), Universität Ulm (DE), University of Würzburg (DE), Bavarian Forest National Park (DE), Technische Universität Darmstadt (DE), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (DE), Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (EC), Universidad de las Américas (NI), Institute for Biodiversity (DE), University of the Americas (CL), National Polytechnic School (EC), Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (DE), Universidad de las Américas (MX), Technische Hochschule Ulm (DE), University of Bayreuth (DE), Technical University of Munich (DE), Friedrich Schiller University Jena (DE), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DE), Texas A&M University (US)
Fundación de Conservación Jocotoco, Ministerio del Ambiente, Agua y Transición Ecológica
Life in Land
Openalex Percentile: Top 29%
Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.