Testing the ecophylogenetic hypothesis with species and spaces along ecological gradients

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Most terrestrial animals are arthropods, most of these are insects and most of these are unknown to science. In recent years we have learned that many of the unnamed insect species are physically smaller and more regionally-restricted and/or host-specific than had been imagined. Inter- and intra-specific regional specialisations such as these (in particular those that co-vary with elevation and anthropogenic disturbance) are critical to our understanding of the evolution and maintenance of that biodiversity. Biodiversity is a combination of the evolutionary history and ecological dramas that combine to select the “actors” in the ecological “theater”. However, biodiversity is more than species richness. Biodiversity is a complex product of the interaction of evolutionary and ecological processes and so phylogenies are a useful tool to help understand the assembly and maintenance of communities.