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Leao, Tarciso C. C., Fonseca, Carlos R., Peres, Carlos A. 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1588-8765 and Tabarelli, Marcelo
(2014)
Predicting extinction risk of Brazilian Atlantic forest angiosperms.
Conservation Biology, 28 (5).
pp. 1349-1359.
ISSN 0888-8892
Abstract
Understanding how plant life history affects species vulnerability to anthropogenic disturbances and environmental change is a major ecological challenge. We examined how vegetation type, growth form, and geographic range size relate to extinction risk throughout the Brazilian Atlantic Forest domain. We used a database containing species-level information of 6,929 angiosperms within 112 families and a molecular-based working phylogeny. We used decision trees, standard regression, and phylogenetic regression to explore the relationships between species attributes and extinction risk. We found a significant phylogenetic signal in extinction risk. Vegetation type, growth form, and geographic range size were related to species extinction risk, but the effect of growth form was not evident after phylogeny was controlled for. Species restricted to either rocky outcrops or scrub vegetation on sandy coastal plains exhibited the highest extinction risk among vegetation types, a finding that supports the hypothesis that species adapted to resource-limited environments are more vulnerable to extinction. Among growth forms, epiphytes were associated with the highest extinction risk in non-phylogenetic regression models, followed by trees, whereas shrubs and climbers were associated with lower extinction risk. However, the higher extinction risk of epiphytes was not significant after correcting for phylogenetic relatedness. Our findings provide new indicators of extinction risk and insights into the mechanisms governing plant vulnerability to extinction in a highly diverse flora where human disturbances are both frequent and widespread.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | © 2014 Society for Conservation Biology. |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | angiosperms,biodiversity,brazil,conservation of natural resources,extinction, biological,forests,risk assessment |
| Faculty \ School: | Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA |
| UEA Research Groups: | Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Environmental Biology Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Resources, Sustainability and Governance (former - to 2018) |
| Depositing User: | Pure Connector |
| Date Deposited: | 01 Dec 2015 07:36 |
| Last Modified: | 20 Mar 2023 14:39 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/55570 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/cobi.12286 |
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