PRELIMINARY GEOHYDROLOGIC APPLICATIONS OF SPATIAL PHYLOGENETIC BIODIVERSITY ANALYSES IN THE MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE

Identifying and understanding areas of great biodiversity and the processes and conditions that support them is essential for environmental research and conservation within an interdisciplinary geosciences context. Blueprint Earth is currently mapping spatial patterns of biodiversity and endemism within a hydrogeologically complex 1 km² section of the Cane Spring area of Mojave National Preserve. These spatial biodiversity patterns will then be compared to the patterns of other collected spatial data spanning geologic, hydrologic, and atmospheric observations. We aim to understand the interconnected and cross-disciplinary relationships present in this unique desert study site. Spatial phylogenetics, an emerging field that quantifies and maps patterns of biodiversity in targeted sites, allows us to visualize biodiversity patterns for all the site’s biological observations, starting with the vascular flora. Biodiversity will be explored through several informative indices including phylogenetic diversity, relative phylogenetic diversity, neo- and paleo-endemism, and range-restricted phylogenetic diversity. Testing for correlation between these and geologic, hydrologic, and atmospheric spatial information will highlight important ecosystem processes and connections that may be overlooked in traditional disciplinary approaches. We present our preliminary results from the first phase of contextual spatial phylogenetic analysis identifying areas of high diversity and endemism in the 1 km² field site in the Mojave National Preserve Cane Spring area. Geocuration is organized in a manner ready for public dissemination upon completion of data analysis.