Data from: Phylogenetic diversity reveals hidden patterns related to population source and species pools during restoration

A phylogenetic perspective of community assembly can reveal new insights
into how variation within dominant species interacts with the local
species pool to influence the structure of restored plant communities.
Many studies have examined the effect of dominant species in structuring
plant communities, but few have investigated their effect on phylogenetic
diversity (PD). We established grassland in a post-agricultural field
using two population sources (cultivars and local ecotypes) of three
dominant grasses (Sorghastrum nutans, Andropogon gerardii and
Schizachyrium scoparium) with three unique pools of subordinate species
that varied in PD but not taxonomic or life-form diversity. We tested the
effect of the population source treatment on two metrics of community PD
(net relatedness index [NRI] and nearest taxon index [NTI]) during the
first 4 years of restoration. The NRI measures the overall pairwise
phylogenetic distance between all pairs of taxa in a community. By
contrast, NTI measures the pairwise distance between closely related taxa
in a community. Population sources had a transitory effect on community
phylogenetic structure over time. Local ecotypes decreased the abundance
of closely related eudicots, monocots (low +NRI and +NTI values) and
volunteer species (−NTI) more than cultivars. However, population sources
did not affect ecologically conservative species (i.e. species with
intermediate-to-poor ecological tolerance and a high degree of fidelity to
prairie habitats). Thus, cultivars might have a positive effect on
community phylogenetic diversity more than local ecotypes by decreasing
the abundance of a phylogenetically diverse community of less closely
related volunteer species. Differences in PD of seed mixes were maintained
in the community of high-fidelity species, but did not affect PD of the
unsown (volunteer) species in the assembling community. Synthesis and
applications. This is the first experiment to show consequences of using
different seed sources on phylogenetic diversity (PD) in grassland
restoration. Phylogenetics can reveal the effects of population sources on
the abundance of volunteer species not evident through traditional
analyses of species diversity. The PD of seed mixes or establishing
communities, or other assessments of phylogenetic relationships, by
restoration practitioners is recommended as a metric to allow consequences
of the evolutionary patterns among species to be included in conservation
planning. Increased accessibility of phylogenetic tools will allow the
application of PD in restoration monitoring.