Evolutionary conservation of within-family biodiversity patterns

The raw data set has been deposited in the Digital CSIC repository (https://doi.org/ 10.20350/digitalCSIC/10529)The tendency for species to retain their ancestral biological properties has been widely demonstrated, but the effect of phylogenetic constraints when progressing from species to ensemble-level properties requires further assessment. Here we test whether community-level patterns (environmental shifts in local species richness and turnover) are phylogenetically conserved, assessing whether their similarity across different families of lichens, insects, and birds is dictated by the relatedness of these families. We show a significant phylogenetic signal in the shape of the species richness-elevation curve and the decay of community similarity with elevation: closely related families share community patterns within the three major taxa. Phylogenetic influences are partly explained by similarities among families in conserved traits defining body plan and interactions, implying a scaling of phylogenetic effects from the organismal to the community level. Consequently, the phylogenetic signal in community-level patterns informs about how the historical legacy of a taxon and shared responses among related taxa to similar environments contribute to community assembly and diversity patterns.This work was funded by grants CGL2014-53899-P/AEI/FEDER.UE and CGL2017-85191-P/AEI/FEDER.UE of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, and grant IDI/2018/000151 of Principado de AsturiasPeer reviewe