No branch left behind: tracking terrestrial biodiversity from a phylogenetic completeness perspective

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Abstract

Biodiversity is ultimately the outcome of millions of years of evolution; however, due to increasing human domination of the Earth, biodiversity in its multiple dimensions is changing rapidly. Here, we present “phylogenetic completeness” (PC) as a concept and method for safeguarding Earth's evolutionary heritage by maintaining all branches of the tree of life. Using data for five major terrestrial clades, we performed a global evaluation of the PC approach and compared the results to an approach in which species are conserved or lost at random. We demonstrate that under PC, for a given number of species extinctions, it is possible to maximize the protection of evolutionary innovations in every clade. The PC approach is flexible, may be used to conduct a phylogenetic audit of biodiversity under different conservation scenarios, complements existing conservation efforts, and is linked to the post-2020 UN Convention on Biodiversity targets.

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Pinto-Ledezma, J. N., Díaz, S., Halpern, B. S., Khoury, C., & Cavender-Bares, J. (2024). No branch left behind: tracking terrestrial biodiversity from a phylogenetic completeness perspective. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 22(2). https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2696

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