MSc Student
Advisor: Konrad Fiedler
Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research
University of Vienna
Abstract
Biodiversity is defined as the variety of life, and quantifying it is essential for understanding biogeographic patterns and guiding conservation planning. While species richness remains themost frequently used measurement, it captures only a limited aspect of biodiversity. Incontrast, a metric that incorporates an evolutionary perspective on biodiversity is phylogenetic diversity (PD), which quantifies the amount of evolutionary history represented within communities. PD reveals how closely or distantly related the species within a community are. Communities composed of closely related species represent less evolutionary history than communities comprising lineages that diverged long ago. Because PD reflects the phylogenetic structure of assemblages, it can provide insights into community assembly processes, ecological patterns and how environmental factors shape patterns of coexistence and distribution. Multiple complementary metrics, including evolutionary history, endemism,evolutionary distinctiveness, and measures of phylogenetic structure have been developed to describe the different dimensions of PD and are being increasingly used in macroecological research.
The Ennominae are one of the most species rich subfamilies of Geometridae (Lepidoptera), with thousands of species described worldwide. Despite their high species richness and ecological variation their phylogenetic diversity and structure have never been assessed at acontinental scale. Ecology and distribution of European Ennominae is however rather wellstudied. This study aims to fill this gap by combining ecological and distribution data with atime-calibrated phylogeny for the European Ennominae. A selection of phylogenetic diversity metrics are analysed to identify key biogeographic patterns across Europe. Additionally, the influence of climate, geology, latitude and ecological or morphological traits on these patterns is assessed.
