Global patterns of mammalian co-occurrence: phylogenetic and body size structure within species ranges

Abstract

Aim To analyse the geographical co-occurrence among mammal species based on their complete geographical distributions, considering their phylogenetic relationships and body size data. We describe species-level patterns and test the relative effects of ecological and evolutionary processes in determining species co-occurrence under the phylogenetic field framework.

Location Global.

Methods We gathered distributional, phylogenetic and body size information for 3697 mammal species. We defined phylogenetic fields of species by estimating the phylogenetic structure of species co-occurrence within a focal species' range. Likewise, body size structure within focal species' ranges was defined as body size fields. We applied a spatial-phylogenetic statistical framework to evaluate geographical variation on species fields. Also, we tested the significance of phylogenetic and body size fields based on biogeographically informed null models. Analyses were done for all mammal species as a whole and within particular taxonomic orders.

Results Phylogenetic and body size fields of mammal species showed significant geographical patterning beyond their spatial and phylogenetic dependence. Phylogenetic fields were strikingly different between the New and Old World, with mammals co-occurring with more closely related species in the New World and more distantly related species in the Old World. Clustered phylogenetic and body size fields showed geographically congruent patterns. Similar findings were obtained within particular mammalian orders.

Main conclusions Geographical co-occurrence among mammal species reveals the imprint of historical origins and dispersal of mammalian lineages. Phylogenetic and body size structure within mammalian ranges is driven by the distinct histories among biogeographical regions and mainly between the New and Old World. We demonstrate the usefulness of a new protocol integrating species' distributional, phylogenetic and body size information for linking evolutionary and ecological approaches to understand geographical patterns of biodiversity.