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RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)
Contents Vol 75(9)

Global hotspots of endemicity, rarity and speciation of aquatic macrophytes

Tatiana Lobato-de Magalhães https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2356-6475 A B * , Kevin Murphy C , Julissa Tapia Grimaldo C , Thomas A. Davidson https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2326-1564 D , Eugenio Molina-Navarro https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5171-3180 E , José Arturo de-Nova https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1989-1355 F and Andrey Efremov https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8983-392X G
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Faculty of Natural Sciences, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, Santiago de Querétaro 76230, Mexico.

B Biological Sciences Department, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102, USA.

C University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, Scotland. Email: mearnskevin1@gmail.com; julstg@gmail.com

D Lake Group, Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, DK-C8000 Aarhus, Denmark. Email: thd@ecos.au.dk

E Department of Geology, Geography and Environment, University of Alcalá, E-28802 Madrid, Spain. Email: eugenio.molina@uah.es

F Instituto de Investigación de Zonas Desérticas, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí 78377, Mexico. Email: arturo.denova@gmail.com

G Independent Researcher, Omsk Region, RU-644122 Omsk, Russian Federation. Email: stratiotes@yandex.ru

* Correspondence to: tatilobato@gmail.com, tatiana.lobato@uaq.mx

Handling Editor: Michelle Casanova

Marine and Freshwater Research 75, MF23121 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF23121
Submitted: 20 June 2023  Accepted: 7 May 2024  Published: 7 June 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Context

Most aquatic macrophytes are ecozone-endemic species, and approximately two-thirds of them have rare occurrence at global scale. These small-range plants are seriously under-studied at macroecological scale, despite their marked vulnerability to extinction through habitat loss and climate change.

Aims

To identify global hotspots of endemism and rarity of aquatic macrophytes and examine the factors that resulted in speciation hotspots of macrophytes in some areas of the planet.

Methods

We analysed a database of 3499 macrophyte species to locate speciation hotspots and assess the biogeographic and environmental drivers that maintain ecozone-endemic, and globally rare species within their current limited global areas of occupancy.

Key results

Ecozone-endemic and globally rare macrophyte species hotspots across the planet showed similar occurrence patterns and drivers among ecozones. Ecozone environmental conditions, particularly harsh environments, influenced macrophyte phylogenetic diversity and structure. Most macrophyte species diversification is recent (<10 million years ago). A negative association with bird-mediated zoochory was seen for endemicity and rarity hotspots.

Conclusions

This study identified hotspots of endemicity and rarity, and potential cradle and museum speciation areas.

Implications

Our findings could inform global action to conserve the macrophyte diversity of wetlands, and other inland aquatic habitats, across the world.

Keywords: aquatic plants, diversification, ecozone-endemic, long-distance dispersal, phylogenetic diversity, range distribution, vicariance, globally rare species.

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