Phylogenetic Relatedness Pattern and Climatic Correlates on the Distribution of Endemic Birds in China

In this chapter, the mesoscale phylogenetic community structure of endemic birds of China is analyzed and the associated possible driving climatic variables are evaluated. The results show that, over the 568 0.5° x 0.5° grid cells covering the territory of China, overdispersion is the major phylogenetic community pattern for endemic birds, as indicated by prevailing negative values of standardized net relatedness index (NRI) and the nearest taxon index (NTI), and the small NRI/NTI ratio values over grid cells. The most correlated climatic variable with NRI/NTI ratio over studied grid cells is relative humidity as indicated by partial correlation test which controls the effect of spatial autocorrelation. Interspecific competition may explain the overdispersion patterns for endemic bird community structure in China.

Keywords: Avian endemism, clustering versus overdispersion, ecophylogenetics, environmental correlates, environmental filtering, evolutionary distinctiveness, evolutionary history, macroecology, phylogenetic community structure, phylogenetic filtering, phylogenetic history, spatial distribution.