Dung beetles maintain phylogenetic divergence but functional convergence across a highly fragmented tropical landscape

Understanding how human-modified landscapes affect the phylogenetic composition and assembly mechanisms of biological communities is critical for effectively managing and restoring tropical ecosystems. We evaluated how forest coverage loss, fragmentation, and landscape heterogeneity affect the phylogenetic diversity of dung beetles and their assembly mechanisms in Los Tuxtlas Biosphere Reserve, a protected but highly fragmented tropical landscape. We calculated Faith's phylogenetic diversity, mean pairwise phylogenetic distance, and mean nearest taxon distance for 5,388 individuals in 36 species. The standardised effect sizes of these metrics were estimated to control their correlation with species richness. Phylogenetic diversity was also assessed separately for each dung beetle functional group. Finally, we compared the mean functional and phylogenetic pairwise distance and mean nearest taxon distance and measured the phylogenetic signal among dung beetle functional traits to determin...