Diversidade e estrutura filogenética das assembleias de Aves da Caatinga

Abstract

Unraveling patterns and processes that shaped species distribution is essential to comprehend the evolutionary history of any biome, as well as to help conservation actions. However, studies on species distribution have been carried out considering only the richness and abundance of species associated with the factors climatic factors, disregarding the interplay between evolutionary and ecological aspects, which is fundamental for obtaining more accurate results on the species distribution patterns and which variables are influencing these patterns. In this way, in this work we used the phylogenetic information to comprehend the diversity and phylogenetic structure of bird assemblages from the Caatinga. Herein we estimated species richness, phylogenetic diversity, and composition turnover based on species richness (GDM) and phylogenetic relationships (Phylo-GDM) of the Caatinga bird assemblages. Our results evidenced higher species richness and phylogenetic diversity in the boundary of Caatinga, surrounding Cerrado and Atlantic Forest biomes. We also observed four large clusters based on turnover from GDM model and five large clusters based on Phylo-GDM. These models indicated precipitation as the main climatic variable associated with the species turnover throughout the Caatinga, both based on richness and phylogenetic relationships. In this way, the inclusion of information on the evolutionary history of species allowed a better prediction of the structure of the current bird assemblages along the Caatinga. The next steps are the insertion of functional data and more environmental variables that make the models more robust.