Phylogeny and Conservation

by Edited by Andrew Purvis , John L. Gittleman , Thomas Brooks

• ISBN13: 9780521532006
• ISBN10: 0521532000
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-10-31
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Phylogeny is a potentially powerful tool for conserving biodiversity. This book explores how it can be used to tackle questions of great practical importance and urgency for conservation. Using case studies from many different taxa and regions of the world, the volume evaluates how useful phylogeny is in understanding the processes that have generated today's diversity and the processes that now threaten it. The novelty of many of the applications, the increasing ease with which phylogenies can be generated, the urgency with which conservation decisions have to be made and the need to make decisions that are as good as possible together make this volume a timely and important synthesis which will be of great value to researchers, practitioners and policy-makers alike.

Table of Contents

1. Phylogeny and conservation Andy Purvis, John L. Gittleman and Thomas M. Brooks

Part I. Units and Currencies: 2. Molecular phylogenetics for conservation biology Elizabeth A. Sinclair, Marcos Pé

rez-Losada and Keith A. Crandall

3. Species: demarcation and diversity Paul-Michael Agapow, 4. Phylogenetic units and currencies above and below the species level John C. Avise

5. Integrating phylogenetic diversity in the selection of priority areas for conservation: does it make a difference? Ana S. L. Rodrigues, Thomas M. Brooks and Kevin J. Gaston

6. Evolutionary heritage as a metric for conservation Arne Ø

. Mooers, Stephen B. Heard and E. Chrostowski

Part II. Inferring Evolutionary Processes: 7. Age and area revisited: identifying global patterns and implications for conservation Kate E. Jones, Wes Sechrest and John L. Gittleman

8. Putting process on the map: why ecotones are important for preserving biodiversity Thomas B. Smith, Sassan Saatchi, Catherine Graham, Hans Slabbekoorn and Greg Spicer

9. The oldest rainforests in Africa: stability or resilience for survival and diversity? Jon C. Lovett, Rob Marchant, James Taplin and Wolfgang Kü

per

10. Late Tertiary and Quaternary climate change and centres of endemism in the southern African flora Guy F. Midgley, Gail Reeves and C. Klak

11. Historical biogeography, diversity and conservation of Australia's tropical rainforest herpetofauna Craig Moritz, Conrad Hoskin, Catherine H. Graham, Andrew Hugall and Adnan Moussalli

Part III. Effects of Human Processes: 12. Conservation status and geographic distribution of avian evolutionary history Thomas M. Brooks, J. D. Pilgrim, Ana S. L. Rodrigues and Gustavo A. B. da Fonseca

13. Correlates of extinction risk: phylogeny, biology, threat and scale Andy Purvis, Marcel Cardillo, Richard Grenyer and Ben Collen

14. Mechanisms of extinction in birds: phylogeny, ecology and threats Peter M. Bennett, Ian P. F. Owens, Daniel Nussey, Stephen T. Garnett and Gabriel M. Crowley

15. Primate diversity patterns and their conservation in Amazonia José

M. Cardoso da Silva, Anthony B. Rylands, José

S. Silva Jú

nior, Claude Gascon and Gustavo A. B. da Fonseca

16. Predicting which species will become invasive: what's taxonomy got to do with it? Julie Lockwood

Part IV. Prognosis: 17. Phylogenetic futures after the latest mass extinction Sean Nee

18. Predicting future speciation Timothy G. Barraclough and T. Jonathan Davies.