On temperate areas, basal clades and biodiversity conservation

Abstract

It has been accepted traditionally that biodiversity is concentrated in the tropics. However, threatened temperate areas in southern South America, South Africa, New Caledonia, Australia and the Holarctic possess a significant number of unique taxa. Phylogenetic information encoded in dadograms can be used to develop indices for measuring biodiversity. Application of these indices to Asteraceae (Angiosperms) and Curculionoidea (Coleoptera) indicates the relevance of the temperate areas to biodiversity conservation: they are rich in phylogenetically valuable species and are environmentally threatened.