Papers by Andreas Prinzing
Plant Cell, 2011
Online enhancements: appendixes.
Evolutionary Ecology by Andreas Prinzing
Aim Biodiversity hot-spots are regions containing evolutionary heritage from ancient or recent ge... more Aim Biodiversity hot-spots are regions containing evolutionary heritage from ancient or recent geological epochs, i.e. evolutionary ʻmuseumsʼ or ʻcradlesʼ, respectively. We hypothesize (i) there are ʻmuseumsʼ and ʻcradlesʼ also within regions: some species pools of particular habitat types contain angiosperm (flowering plants) lineages from ancient geological epochs, others from recent epochs; (ii) habitat-specific abiotic factors control numbers of angiosperm lineages contained from a given epoch in a given habitat species pool.
Location The flora of the Netherlands
Methods We studied the world’s largest vegetation-plot database and a new, uniquely resolved dated angiosperm phylogeny available for the Netherlands. We characterized species pools of habitat types by a novel concept: epoch-specific lineage diversities.
Results We found that species pools of most habitat types were characterized by over- or underrepresentation of lineages from at least one epoch, dating back until the origin of angiosperms. These patterns are not captured by mean lineage ages. Abiotic environments explained on average 56% and up to 75% of the variance in numbers of lineages per epoch, but with opposing effects of the same factor for different epochs. Specifically, warm and dry habitats tend to contain lineages dating back to warm and dry epochs. Identifying lineages from sets of random time intervals rather than from a set of geological epochs significantly reduced relationships with the environment.
Main conclusions Within a region, habitat types differ significantly in the evolutionary heritage they contain from different geological epochs, and the environment controls these differences.
Larger phylogenetic distances in litter mixtures: lower microbial biomass and higher C/N ratios but equal mass loss
Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society, Jan 7, 2015
Phylogenetic distances of coexisting species differ greatly within plant communities, but their c... more Phylogenetic distances of coexisting species differ greatly within plant communities, but their consequences for decomposers and decomposition remain unknown. We hypothesized that large phylogenetic distance of leaf litter mixtures increases differences of their litter traits, which may, in turn, result in increased resource complementarity or decreased resource concentration for decomposers and hence increased or decreased chemical transformation and reduction of litter. We conducted a litter mixture experiment including 12 common temperate tree species (evolutionarily separated by up to 106 Myr), and sampled after seven months, at which average mass loss was more than 50%. We found no effect of increased phylogenetic distance on litter mass loss or on abundance and diversity of invertebrate decomposers. However, phylogenetic distance decreased microbial biomass and increased carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratios of litter mixtures. Consistently, four litter traits showed (marginally) signi...
Uploads
Papers by Andreas Prinzing
Evolutionary Ecology by Andreas Prinzing
Location The flora of the Netherlands
Methods We studied the world’s largest vegetation-plot database and a new, uniquely resolved dated angiosperm phylogeny available for the Netherlands. We characterized species pools of habitat types by a novel concept: epoch-specific lineage diversities.
Results We found that species pools of most habitat types were characterized by over- or underrepresentation of lineages from at least one epoch, dating back until the origin of angiosperms. These patterns are not captured by mean lineage ages. Abiotic environments explained on average 56% and up to 75% of the variance in numbers of lineages per epoch, but with opposing effects of the same factor for different epochs. Specifically, warm and dry habitats tend to contain lineages dating back to warm and dry epochs. Identifying lineages from sets of random time intervals rather than from a set of geological epochs significantly reduced relationships with the environment.
Main conclusions Within a region, habitat types differ significantly in the evolutionary heritage they contain from different geological epochs, and the environment controls these differences.