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Functional traits are key to understanding orchid diversity on islands

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dc.contributor.authorTaylor, A.
dc.contributor.authorKeppel, G.
dc.contributor.authorWeigelt, P.
dc.contributor.authorZotz, G.
dc.contributor.authorKreft, H.
dc.date.issued2021
dc.description.abstractThe extraordinary diversity of orchids has captivated scientists for more than a century, yet their complex spatial patterns at large scales remain poorly resolved. On islands, orchid diversity patterns are especially puzzling. While some islands are centres of orchid diversity, orchids are underrepresented on most islands. To disentangle such complex patterns, key functional differences among orchids must be considered – a distinction seldom made in biogeographical analyses. Using a global dataset of 454 islands, we tested prominent hypotheses in island biogeography, while simultaneously making the distinction between epiphytes and two terrestrial life forms (geophytes and non-geophytes). Orchid diversity was unevenly distributed across islands and life forms. Epiphytic orchid diversity strongly increased with temperature, illustrating the near confinement of epiphytes to the tropics. Geophytes became proportionally more important with increasing seasonality, highlighting their ability to withstand harsh climatic conditions. Epiphytes and non-geophytes both displayed responses (e.g. negative relationship with seasonality) related to their dependence on consistently favourable conditions, possibly because of the absence of subterranean storage organs. This highlights that the factors explaining orchid diversity differ strongly with, and are related to, life form. We suggest that key functional differences within and across plant families be considered in future studies to better understand drivers of complex diversity patterns.
dc.identifier.citationEcography, 2021; 44(5):703-714
dc.identifier.doi10.1111/ecog.05410
dc.identifier.issn0906-7590
dc.identifier.issn1600-0587
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/11541.2/147109
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherWiley-Blackwell Publishing
dc.relation.fundingAlexander von Humboldt Foundation
dc.relation.fundingGerman Research Foundation (DFG)
dc.rightsCopyright 2021 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
dc.source.urihttps://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.05410
dc.subjectendemism
dc.subjectfunctional traits
dc.subjectlife form
dc.subjectOrchidaceae
dc.titleFunctional traits are key to understanding orchid diversity on islands
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.publication-statusPublished
ror.fileinfo12219939180001831 13219979280001831 ecog.05410.pdf
ror.mmsid9916484110001831

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