Does phylogeny have an influence on the date of first description? A comparative study of the world's fishes
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Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier
Abstract
The process of species description is not random, and understanding the factors that in-
fluence when a species is first described (the date of first description, DoFD) allows us to
target environments and/or species' traits to increase our knowledge of diversity. Such
studies typically correlate species traits (e.g. maximum size, occupational depth) against
DoFD, forgetting that species are not statistically independent of each other, owing to the
inheritance of shared characteristics. A recent study of extant fishes by Costello et al.
(2015) identified depth and geographic range size as the most important (of many) pre-
dictors of the DoFD, implying that newly described species will likely occupy restricted
areas and occur deep in the water column. However, these authors failed to accommodate
for “identity by descent” in their analyses. We correct that oversight here, and conclude
that while the adjustments strengthen the associations between the different predictors
and the DoFD, the overall affects are minimal and they do not materially change Costello
et al.’s (2015) conclusions. This is briefly discussed.
Description
Keywords
Ecology, Conservation, Biodiversity, Marine
Citation
Beukes, B. et al. (2020). Does phylogeny have an influence on the date of first description? A comparative study of the world's fishes. Global Ecology and Conservation, 23, e01078. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2020.e01078