Abstract Detail

Ecological Section

Germain-Aubrey , Charlotte Corinna [1], Allen, Julie  [2], Neubig , Kurt Maximillian [3], Guralnick, Robert [4], Soltis, Douglas E. [5], Ponciano, Jose-Miguel [6], Majure, Lucas [7], SOLTIS, PAMELA S. [8].

Using museum data for large-scale questions: modeling Florida plant diversity.

The effort to digitize all biological collections in the U.S.A. is quickly leading to an online dataset of over one billion specimens, available for all researchers to answer questions at unprecedented scales. Florida hosts several biodiversity hotspots and is home to over 4,100 species of vascular plants.  Using herbarium collections, we took advantage of the historical data linked with the specimens and constructed a pipeline that will extract environmental variables at the time of the actual collection for each of 1,550 species. We then used MaxEnt to reconstruct niche models for almost half of the terrestrial vascular plant species from Florida, and projected these models into the future. Mapping the index of plant diversity, endemism hotspots, and areas of predicted change, we found that regions with the greatest projected increases in species richness correspond to the areas that are most vulnerable to sea level rise, with important implications for conservation and land management of the peninsula. Moreover, we reconstructed the regional phylogeny for those species for which we built models, and calculated phylogenetic diversity, phylogenetic beta diversity, and new phylogenetic endemism measures. This study emphasizes the importance of museum collections in our ability to explore, understand and predict future changes in biodiversity at the landscape level. 

1 - University Of Florida, Florida Museum Of Natural History, Dickinson HAll, Museum Road, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
2 - University of Illinois, Illinois Natural History Survey, 615 E Peabody Drive, Champaign, IL, 61820, USA
3 - University of Florida, Florida Museum of Natural History, 385 Dickinson Hall, Gainesville, FL, 32611-7800, USA
4 - University of Colorado, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, E176 Museum Collections Building, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA
5 - University of Florida, Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville, FL, 32611
6 - University of Florida, Department of Biology, Bartram Hall - Museum Road, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
7 - University Of Florida, Florida Museum Of Natural History, P.O. Box 117800, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
8 - University Of Florida, Florida Museum Of Natural History, PO BOX 117800, Gainesville, FL, 32611-7800, USA, 352/273-1964

Keywords:
regional phylogeny
species distribution model
big data
phylogenetic diversity
pipeline
digitized data
museum specimens.

Presentation Type: Poster:Posters for Sections
Session: P
Location: Eyrie/Boise Centre
Date: Monday, July 28th, 2014
Time: 5:30 PM
Number: PEC029
Abstract ID:792
Candidate for Awards:None