ArticleNature ecology & evolution2025
Global decoupling of functional and phylogenetic diversity in plant communities.
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Article in Nature ecology & evolution, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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18 citing papers in PubMed.
- Canopy Plants Safeguard the Taxonomic and Phylogenetic Diversity of Recruiting Plants Worldwide.Ecology letters · 2026Article
- Facing a harsh climate: terrestrial plant functional strategies in a changing world.National science review · 2026Article
- Evolutionary trajectory of microbial sulfur oxidation pathways recapitulates Earth's oxygenation history.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Phylogenetic Diversity Outperforms Functional Diversity in Predicting Aboveground Biomass Across Tree Strata in a Subtropical Forest.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Climate and regional plant richness drive diet specialization in butterfly caterpillars.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Habitat-specific trends in taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity in European plant communities over a century.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Phylogenetic Diversity and Community Assembly of Vascular Plants Along Environmental Gradients in the Western Pamir-Alay: A Case Study From Surkhandarya Province, Southern Uzbekistan.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Scale-dependent decoupling of leaf traits and phylogeny reveals dimension-specific environmental filtering in Polyspora chrysandra-associated montane forests.BMC plant biology · 2026Article
- ChinaSoilSeedBank: A dataset on species diversity and composition of soil seed bank in China.Scientific data · 2026Article
- Ecological and Historical Correlates of Taxonomic, Phylogenetic, and Functional Diversity of Amphibians in South American Rainforests and Savannas.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Taxonomic, Phylogenetic and Functional Diversity Behave Differently Under Disturbance Pressure and Complex Land-Use History: Assembly Rules in Grassland Communities.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Crowdsourced biodiversity monitoring fills gaps in global plant trait mapping.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Article
- Beyond phylogeny: phytochemical diversity as a unique metric for biodiversity in the Gentianales.The New phytologist · 2025Article
- Soil Nutrient Enrichment Induces Trade-Offs in Bacterial Life-History Strategies Promoting Plant Productivity.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Plants with higher dispersal capabilities follow 'abundant-centre' distributions but such patterns remain rare in animals.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Rare species do not disproportionately contribute to phylogenetic diversity in a subalpine plant community.American journal of botany · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
68 authors.
Georg J A HähnInstitute of Biology/Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany. georg.haehn@idiv.de.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3733-1498
Gabriella DamascenoInstitute of Biology/Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5103-484X
Esteban Alvarez-DavilaEscuela ECAPMA, Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia (Colombia), Bogotá, Colombia.
Isabelle AubinGreat Lakes Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, Canada.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5953-1012
Marijn BautersDepartment of Environment, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0978-6639
Erwin BergmeierDepartment of Vegetation and Phytodiversity Analysis, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6118-4611
Idoia BiurrunDepartment of Plant Biology and Ecology, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Bilbao, Spain.
Anne D BjorkmanBiological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Gianmaria BonariBiological and Environmental Sciences, University of Siena, Siena, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5574-6067
Zoltán Botta-DukátInstitute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9544-3474
Juan A CamposDepartment of Plant Biology and Ecology, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Bilbao, Spain.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5992-2753
Andraž ČarniJovan Hadži Institute of Biology, Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8909-4298
Milan ChytrýDepartment of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8122-3075
Renata ĆušterevskaInstitute of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Skopje, North Macedonia.
André Luís de GasperUniversidade Regional de Blumenau, Blumenau, Brazil.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1940-9581
Michele De SanctisDepartment of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7280-6199
Jürgen DenglerZurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Wädenswil, Switzerland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3221-660X
Jiri DolezalInstitute of Botany, Czech Academy of Science, Trebon, Czechia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5829-4051
Mohamed A El-SheikhBotany and Microbiology Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0720-7448
Manfred FinckhInstitute of Plant Science and Microbiology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
Antonio Galán-de-MeraBotany Lab, Universidad San Pablo-CEU, CEU Universities, Madrid, Spain.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1652-5931
Emmanuel GarbolinoMINES Paris PSL-ISIGE, Fontainebleau, France.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4954-6069
Hamid GholizadehBiological and Environmental Sciences, University of Siena, Siena, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3694-368X
Valentin GolubInstitute of Ecology of the Volga River Basin, Samara Federal Research Scientific Center, Togliatti, Russia.
Sylvia HaiderInstitute of Ecology, School of Sustainability, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Lüneburg, Germany.
Mohamed Z HatimPlant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group, Environmental Sciences Department, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0872-5108
Bruno HéraultCIRAD, UPR Forêts et Sociétés, Campus de Baillarguet, Montpellier, France.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6950-7286
Jürgen HomeierResource Management, HAWK Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5676-3267
Ute JandtInstitute of Biology/Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3177-3669
Florian JansenUniversity of Rostock, Rostock, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0331-5185
Anke JentschBayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research, Department of Disturbance Ecology, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2345-8300
Jens KattgeGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1022-8469
Michael KesslerSystematic and Evolutionary Botany, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Larisa KhaninaBranch of the M.V. Keldysh IAM RAS, IMPB RAS, Pushchino, Russia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8937-5938
Holger KreftDepartment of Biodiversity, Macroecology and Biogeography, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4471-8236
Filip KüzmičJovan Hadži Institute of Biology, Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3894-7115
Jonathan LenoirUMR CNRS 7058 Ecologie et Dynamique des Systèmes Anthropisés (EDYSAN), Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, France.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0638-9582
Jesper Erenskjold MoeslundDepartment of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8591-7149
Ladislav MucinaHarry Butler Institute, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0317-8886
Alireza NaqinezhadDepartment of Environmental Sciences, College of Science and Engineering, University of Derby, Derby, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0000-4512-729X
Jalil NorooziDepartment of Botany and Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4124-2359
Aaron Pérez-HaaseInstitut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio), Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5974-7374
Oliver L PhillipsUniversity of Leeds, Leeds, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8993-6168
Valério D PillarDepartment of Ecology, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegro, Brazil.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6408-2891
Gonzalo Rivas-TorresColegio de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Estación de Biodiversidad Tiputini, Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ, Quito, Ecuador.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2704-8288
Eszter RuprechtHungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Biology and Geology, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Brody SandelDepartment of Biology, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA, USA.
Marco SchmidtPalmengarten der Stadt, Frankfurt, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6087-6117
Ute SchmiedelInstitute of Plant Science and Microbiology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4059-6585
Stefan SchnitzerMarquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
Franziska SchrodtUniversity of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9053-8872
Urban ŠilcJovan Hadži Institute of Biology, Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Ben SparrowThe School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Glen Osmond, South Australia, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2566-1895
Maria SporbertInstitute of Biology/Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
Zvjezdana StančićFaculty of Geotechnical Engineering, University of Zagreb, Varaždin, Croatia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6124-811X
Ben StrohbachBiodiversity Research Center, Faculty of Health, Natural Resources and Applied Sciences, Namibia University of Science and Technology, Windhoek, Namibia.
Jens-Christian SvenningCenter for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO), Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3415-0862
Cindy Q TangCollege of Ecology and Environmental Science, Institute of Ecology and Geobotany, Yunnan University, University Town, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3789-6771
Zhiyao TangCollege of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Department of Ecology, Peking University, Beijing, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0154-6403
Alexander Christian VibransUniversidade Regional de Blumenau (FURB), Blumenau, Brazil.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8789-5833
Cyrille ViolleCEFE, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, University Montpellier, Montpellier, France.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2471-9226
Donald WallerDepartment of Botany, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5377-3929
Desalegn WanaDepartment of Geography and Environmental Studies, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5901-0831
Hua-Feng WangSanya Nanfan Research Institute, Hainan University, Sanya, China.
Timothy WhitfeldBell Musuem, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1850-6432
Georg ZizkaSenckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt and Department Botany and Molecular Evolution, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5030-7049
Francesco Maria SabatiniDepartment of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7202-7697
Helge BruelheideInstitute of Biology/Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3135-0356
Funding
Danmarks Grundforskningsfond (Danish National Research Foundation) DNRF173Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) DFG FZT 118, 202548816Eusko Jaurlaritza (Basque Government) IT1487-22Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse (Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation) WAF KAW 2019.0202Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation | Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) 313315/2022-1Stiftelsen för Strategisk Forskning (Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research) FFL21-0194The Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency (ARIS) P1-0236Villum Fonden (Villum Foundation) 16549
Abstract
Plant communities are composed of species that differ both in functional traits and evolutionary histories. As species' functional traits partly result from their individual evolutionary history, we expect the functional diversity of communities to increase with increasing phylogenetic diversity. This expectation has only been tested at local scales and generally for specific growth forms or specific habitat types, for example, grasslands. Here we compare standardized effect sizes for functional and phylogenetic diversity among 1,781,836 vegetation plots using the global sPlot database. In contrast to expectations, we find functional diversity and phylogenetic diversity to be only weakly and negatively correlated, implying a decoupling between these two facets of diversity. While phylogenetic diversity is higher in forests and reflects recent climatic conditions (1981 to 2010), functional diversity tends to reflect recent and past climatic conditions (21,000 years ago). The independent nature of functional and phylogenetic diversity makes it crucial to consider both aspects of diversity when analysing ecosystem functioning and prioritizing conservation efforts.
Indexed as
BiodiversityPhylogenyPlant Physiological PhenomenaPlantsBiological EvolutionClimateEcosystemForests
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