Absence of phylogenetic conservatism in thermal traits of phytoplankton

Lead Researcher(s): Brisneve Edullantes and Denver F. Suyom
Status: Published

Abstract/summary: Understanding the evolutionary and ecological processes that drive thermal trait evolution in phytoplankton is important for predicting how climate change might affect their diversity and distribution. In this study, we tested whether closely related species share thermal traits and whether these traits are evolutionarily labile or conserved in phytoplankton. Published dataset containing quality-controlled estimates of thermal traits in phytoplankton was used to investigate their phylogenetic distribution. The presence and strength of phylogenetic signal and phylogenetic conservatism were determined using variance partitioning analysis, phylogenetic autocorrelation, and Brownian motion model of evolution. Results showed that phylogenetic signals were present in most thermal traits but these signals are too weak to detect phylogenetic conservatism. These results suggest that thermal traits are more similar among closely related species than expected from a null model from the same phylogeny, but there is no evidence of species retaining their ancestral thermal traits more than expected from a Brownian null model of evolution. This study provides empirical evidence of the absence of phylogenetic conservatism in phytoplankton thermal traits and offers insights into the mechanism driving their phylogenetic distribution and implications for their responses to temperature changes.

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