Phylogenetic and functional diversity of African muroid rodents at different spatial scales

Considering the interplay between regional diversification and local community processes is a relatively nascent field of study. Here, I examined the phylogenetic and functional structure of African muroid assemblages at both regional (eight bioregions) and local (72 communities) levels to assess the relative roles of historical processes, environmental filtering and ecological interactions in community assembly. In addition, I used patterns of phylogenetic and functional beta diversity to separate the factors that structure muroid assemblages. At the regional scale, none of the regions showed evidence of phylogenetic evenness, while two of them (Congolian, Southern African) exhibited phylogenetic structure, probably due to the fact that the opportunity for in situ speciation has been greater in these biogeographic regions, mostly in the Congolian rainforests. Functional clustering was detected in the two northernmost regions, where conditions are more extreme, suggesting the existence of environmental filtering. At a finer (local) scale, similar to 6% of the examined muroid communities had net relatedness index (NRI) values significantly greater than expected by chance (NRI > 2), whereas no localities harboured muroid communities with NRI values significantly lower than expected by chance (NRI < - 2). Thus, there was no evidence in support of a more prominent role of competition as the scale decreases. Regional patterns of beta diversity and phylogenetic beta diversity suggest that phylogenetic structure in African muroid assemblages may be explained by the history of speciation and dispersal of this taxonomic group. Finally, the lack of concordance between phylogenetic and functional structure highlights the importance of considering the multiple facets of biodiversity to study community assembly processes from an integrative point of view.