Extinction and the loss of evolutionary history
Extinction and the loss of evolutionary history
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DOI：
10.1126/science.278.5338.692
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发表时间：
1997-10-24
期刊：
影响因子：
56.9
通讯作者：
May, RM
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Nee, S;May, RM
灭绝事件，例如目前正在发生的人为事件，导致生命之树被修剪。但是，当一个分类单元中的n个物种中的k个物种消失时，潜在的进化历史的哪一部分幸存下来？这既与物种损失如何转化为进化历史的损失有关，也与分配保护优先事项有关。在这里，它表明，即使大约95%的物种消失，大约80%的潜在生命树仍然可以生存，并且最大限度地保留进化历史的算法并不比随机选择幸存者好多少。考虑到政治、经济和社会现实对保护生物学的限制，这些发现可能会有所帮助。
Extinction episodes, such as the anthropogenic one currently under way, result in a pruned tree of life. But what fraction of the underlying evolutionary history survives when k of n species in a taxon are lost? This is relevant both to how species loss has translated into a loss of evolutionary history and to assigning conservation priorities. Here it is shown that approximately 80 percent of the underlying tree of life can survive even when approximately 95 percent of species are lost, and that algorithms that maximize the amount of evolutionary history preserved are not much better than choosing the survivors at random. Given the political, economic, and social realities constraining conservation biology, these findings may be helpful.