New phylogenetic methods for measuring biodiversity and their conservation applications

Understanding spatial patterns of biodiversity is critical for conservation planning, particularly given the need to prioritize efforts in the face of rapid habitat loss and human-induced climatic change. Biodiversity and endemism are traditionally measured using species counts and ranges. However, investigation of patterns of species distributions alone misses out on both the full richness of patterns that can be inferred using the whole tree of life, and the analytical power that comes from a phylogenetic approach. The application of phylogenetic methods, particularly the new measures Relative Phylogenetic Diversity (RPD) and Relative Phylogenetic Endemism (RPE), greatly enhances our knowledge of the distribution of biodiversity across both space and time. The RPE metric allows (for the first time) a clear, quantitative distinction between areas of neo- and paleo- endemism. Conservation reserve design can be guided by assessment of phylogeny, rather than species counts alone, and can identify complementary areas of biodiversity that have unique evolutionary histories and processes in need of conservation.

Brent D. Mishler is Director of the University and Jepson Herbaria as well as professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley, where he teaches systematics and plant diversity. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1984. His research interests are in the systematics, evolution, and ecology of bryophytes, especially the diverse moss genus Tortula, as well as in the phylogeny of green plants and the theory of systematics.