Biology subjects

Ramos-Gutierrez, I.

Publications and source records attributed to Ramos-Gutierrez, I..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

A framework for measuring national trends in the extinction risk of evolutionarily distinct species using the EDGE Index

The biodiversity crisis is threatening evolutionarily distinct species, those that constitute long periods of unique evolutionary history or that are from highly imperilled lineages. The EDGE (Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered) index was designed to track the changing extinction risks of these species and is listed as an indicator in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Here, we provide a set of guidelines for calculating the EDGE index at the national level and for addressing data uncertainty. We distinguish two approaches for calculating a country-level EDGE index, either generated directly by using national data or from disaggregated global data. Using two national Red Lists, we show the contrasting state of high evolutionarily distinct nesting birds across French territories, and the elevated threat status of high evolutionarily distinct endemic species for South African vertebrates. Using global extinction risk data, we then reveal the deteriorating state of birds, mammals, and amphibians over time, and we highlight the countries with the highest proportions of threatened evolutionarily distinct species. Application of these guidelines should aid countries in monitoring their evolutionarily irreplaceable species, which in turn can help target local conservation actions, while contributing to global efforts to preserve the tree of life.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2025

Safeguarding evolutionary history in a biodiversity hotspot: downscaling the EDGE metric to a regional application

In the face of accelerating biodiversity loss, phylogenetically informed approaches offer critical insights for conservation planning from an evolutionary perspective. The EDGE (Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered) metric combines phylogenetic singularity with extinction risk to identify taxa that represent unique evolutionary history under threat. In this study, we focus on the global conservation relevance of angiosperms native to a regional biodiversity hotspot, the Iberian Peninsula. Our aim was to identify areas with a high concentration of EDGE species and to evaluate how effectively the current protected area network encompasses them. Our findings reveal that threatened evolutionary history is primarily concentrated in mountainous and coastal regions. While several EDGE zones --areas containing unique and endangered evolutionary lineages-- overlap with existing protected areas, particularly in mountains, others harbouring few but evolutionarily unique and highly threatened taxa remain largely unprotected. This study highlights the value of applying global conservation metrics such as EDGE at regional scales. Our results provide a foundation for integrating evolutionary history into conservation prioritization in the Iberian Peninsula and offer a replicable framework for implementing the EDGE approach in other biodiversity-rich regions. Impact statementIn the Iberian Peninsula, there are 22 EDGE zones that account for over 90% of angiosperm threatened evolutionary history.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2022

A western representative of an eastern clade: phylogeographic history of the gypsophilous plant Nepeta hispanica

The preference of certain plant species for gypsum soils leads to disjunct population structures that are thought to generate island-like dynamics potentially influencing biogeographic patterns at multiple evolutionary scales. Here, we study the evolutionary and biogeographic history of Nepeta hispanica, a western Mediterranean plant associated with gypsum soils and displaying a patchy distribution with populations very distant from each other. Three approaches were used: (a) interspecific phylogenetic analyses based on nuclear DNA sequences of the ITS region to unveil the relationships and times of divergence between N. hispanica and its closest relatives; ((b)phylogeographic analyses using plastid DNA regions trnS-trnG and psbJ-petA to evaluate the degree of genetic isolation between populations of N. hispanica, their relationships and their genetic diversity; and (c) ecological niche modelling to evaluate historical distributional changes. Results reveal that N. hispanica belongs to an eastern Mediterranean and Asian clade diversified in arid environments since the Miocene-Pliocene. This species represents the only extant lineage of this clade that colonized the western Mediterranean, probably through the northern Mediterranean coast (southern Europe). Present Iberian populations display a high plastid genetic diversity and, even if geographically distant from each other, they are highly connected according to the distribution of plastid haplotypes and lineages. This can be explained by a scenario involving a complex history of back-and-forth colonisation events, facilitated by a relative stability of suitable conditions for the species across the Iberian Peninsula throughout the Quaternary.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2022

randtip, a generalized framework to expand incomplete phylogenies using non-molecular phylogenetic information

O_LIThe increasing availability of molecular information has lifted our understanding of species evolutionary relationships to unprecedent levels. However, current estimates of the worlds biodiversity suggest that about a fifth of all extant species are yet to be described, and we still lack molecular information for many of the known species. Hence, evolutionary biologists will have to tackle phylogenetic uncertainty for a long time to come. C_LIO_LIThis prospect has urged the development of software to expand phylogenies based on non-molecular phylogenetic information, and while the available tools provide some valuable features, major drawbacks persist and some of the proposed solutions are hardly generalizable to any group of organisms. C_LIO_LIHere, we present a completely generalized and flexible framework to expand incomplete molecular phylogenies. The framework is implemented in the R package randtip, a toolkit of functions that was designed to randomly bind phylogenetically uncertain taxa in backbone phylogenies through a fully customizable and automatic procedure that uses taxonomic ranks as a major source of phylogenetic information. C_LIO_LIAlthough randtip is capable of automatically generating fully operative phylogenies for any group of organisms using just a list of species and a backbone tree, we stress that the blind expansion of phylogenies (using randtip or any other available software) often leads to suboptimal solutions. Thus, we discuss a variety of circumstances that may require customizing simulation parameters beyond default settings to optimally expand the trees, including a detailed step-by-step workflow. C_LIO_LIPhylogenetic uncertainty should be tackled with caution, assessing potential pitfalls and opportunities to optimize parameter space prior to launch any simulation. Used judiciously, our framework will help evolutionary biologists to efficiently expand incomplete molecular phylogenies and thereby account for phylogenetic uncertainty in quantitative analyses. C_LI

evolutionary biology↗