Abstract
There is considerable uncertainty about if, and when, phylogenetic information is needed to answer various ecological questions about trait-based ecological studies. It has been recommended that both functional and phylogenetic information should be combined, and some researchers have even suggested that functional information for species should be ‘corrected’ because species are not phylogenetically independent. Here, we address these issues by identifying key types of questions in functional trait-based ecology and discussing the utility of phylogenetic information for answering them, either as a correction or in combination with functional traits. Phylogenetic analyses are identified as essential to answer questions related to the evolution of adaptations to abiotic and biotic conditions. However, we argue that phylogenetic information is not always relevant for functional trait studies, and should not be incorporated into ecological analyses without clear justification. Phylogenetic relatedness between species should not be considered a bias to be corrected, but rather an evolutionary signal that allows results to be interpreted at different evolutionary scales. Furthermore, if traits are conserved, phylogeny can be used as a proxy for missing information on traits and functional trait diversity. We conclude by providing guidelines on when to apply, and how to interpret, results obtained using phylogenetic information for a variety of ecological questions linked to functional traits.
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Acknowledgements
We wish to thank Ana Malhado for her help with the logistics of the Maceió meeting. We thank also two reviewers for their constructive comments on the manuscript and for deciding to write a response paper (which we haven’t read at time of submitting our final draft) to this study. FdB is funded by the Czech Science Foundation, grant P505/12/1296. FdB was supported by Brazilian CAPES PVE grant number 88881.068053/2014-01. ATCD was supported by the the Brazilian BJT grant number A011/2013 (Bolsista CAPES/BRASIL). JH is supported by a Spanish DGCyT Ramón y Cajal grant and by the Brazilian CNPq PVE grant number 401471/2014-4. JAF Diniz-Filho and RJ Ladle receive CNPq Research Productivity fellowships. LG: European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no. GA-2010-267243 – PLANT FELLOWS; JL is funded by the Centre of Excellence PLADIAS, GACR-14-36079G.
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de Bello, F., Berg, M.P., Dias, A.T.C. et al. On the need for phylogenetic ‘corrections’ in functional trait-based approaches. Folia Geobot 50, 349–357 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12224-015-9228-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12224-015-9228-6