Biodiversity drivers on islands and continents

Obiettivo

Why do some regions encompass higher number of species? Which are the main drivers of biodiversity in different biogeographical areas and ecosystems? Many efforts have been made to decipher the main factors that play a key role in the patterns and processes that generate biodiversity and contribute to the structuring of communities at different spatial scales. Through a multidisciplinary approach, this project aims to shed light into the biogeographical and evolutionary processes that generate biodiversity, using multiple island and continent datasets to compare diversity drivers between model systems where distinct processes have shaped the current species composition. The feasibility of BIODIV ISLAND-CONT is supported by the extensive database provided by four different European funded projects, offering an invaluable tool to study the differences in community assembly of islands vs. continents. The project will be hosted by two high-quality European institutions: FMNH-UH in Finland and IPNA-CSIC in Spain, enhancing the reciprocal transfer of knowledge among different European partners. Overall, the goals proposed in this project will allow testing general macroevolutionary hypotheses of broad interest to the scientific community.