Format: ORAL

Brent D. Mishler1, Robert Guralnick2, Nico Cellinese2, Shawn Laffan3

1 University of California, Berkeley, USA 2 University of Florida, Gainesville, USA 3 University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

Newly available distributional data from global museum databasing efforts, rapidly increasing coverage of DNA sequence data, and improvements to computer hardware and software has enabled a new big data approach to the application of PD-based metrics and randomization-based hypothesis tests called spatial phylogenetics. It can be defined most simply as mapping a phylogeny onto geographic space, which can then be used with GIS layers to understand drivers of phylodiversity patterns and for conservation prioritization. Alpha- and beta-phylodiversity can be measured using interestingly different ways of representing branch lengths on a given topology (called facets. e.g., chronograms, phylograms, or cladograms), and hypotheses about ecology and evolution can be tested using spatial randomization. Scaling questions are present with both the spatial and phylogenetic data. Spatially, what size should be used for the basic spatial units, and how much of the Earths surface should be studied at once? Likewise, there are similar issues at both the small and large scales in phylogenetics -- what should the OTUs represent, and how much of the tree of life should be studied at once? All these questions involve both theoretical considerations and practical data limits. These scaling issues will be explored using Mediterranean-climate regions as a test case. For example, we will compare the results of comparative phylodiversity analyses of monocots alone as compared to results for all angiosperms. We will also compare results obtained using different levels of OTUs, different spatial unit sizes, and local vs. global regions.