Predicting taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity of plant assemblages in the Okanagan ecoregion
department or school: Arts and Sciences, Irving K. Barber School of (Okanagan)
department or school: Biology, Department of (Okanagan)
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCO
creator: Chelick, Carmen Christine
issued: 2019-01-03T23:15:07Z
issued: 2019
related degree: Master of Science - MSc
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Taxonomic diversity, or species richness, has traditionally been the focus of biodiversity conservation efforts, but attention is increasingly being paid to measures of functional and phylogenetic diversity, which consider the range of ecological functions and unique evolutionary histories of assemblages. Despite the important benefits to using this multi-dimensional approach, especially in the context of rapid climate and land use change, regional-scale conservation initiatives continue to consider taxonomic diversity alone within their strategies. My general objective is to inform biodiversity conservation efforts in the Okanagan Ecoregion by quantifying and documenting, for the first time, current and future geographic patterns of taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity among the region’s vascular plant assemblages. My specific objectives are to: 1) Use species distribution models to predict current and future distributions of plant species inhabiting the Okanagan Ecoregion; 2) Quantify, map and compare current taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity patterns and hotspots in the Okanagan Ecoregion and compare to the current protected area network; and 3) Use climate projections to assess how future patterns and hotspots of taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity may differ from current. Using a reproducible protocol, I produced current and future species distribution models for 1,541 plant species. I then used three plant traits that represent the ecological variation of plant life history strategies as well as a recently published phylogeny to quantify and map patterns of functional and phylogenetic diversity for plant assemblages in the Okanagan Ecoregion. Overall, I found that there was significant geographic variation between patterns of taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity. While current functional and phylogenetic diversity hotspots had the greatest amount of congruence, hotspots of species richness and functional …
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/68175
note: Predicting taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity of plant assemblages in the Okanagan Ecoregion by Carmen Christine Chelick B.Sc. (Honours with Distinction), The University of British Columbia Okanagan, 2015 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE in THE COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Biology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) January 2019 © Carmen Christine Chelick 2019 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the College of Graduate Studies for acceptance, a thesis/dissertation entitled: Predicting taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity of plant assemblages in the Okanagan Ecoregion submitted by Carmen Christine Chelick in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science . Dr. Jason Pither, Biology Department, Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences Supervisor Dr. Lael Parrot, Biology Department, Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Adam Ford, Biology Department, Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Jon Corbett, Community, Culture and Global Studies Department, Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences University Examiner iii Abstract Taxonomic diversity, or species richness, has traditionally been the focus of biodiversity conservation efforts, but attention is increasingly being paid to measures of functional and phylogenetic diversity, which consider the range of ecological functions and unique evolutionary histories of assemblages. Despite the important benefits to using this multi-dimensional approach, especially in the context of rapid climate and land use change, regional-scale conservation initiatives continue to consider taxonomic diversity alone within their strategies. My general objective is to inform biodiversity conservation efforts in the Okanagan Ecoregion by quantifying and documenting, for the first time, curren…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2019-02
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0375860
language: eng
degree discipline: Biology
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/68175