Rare habitat generalists and rare species of large GRs did not show differences in mating system. Our review shows that defining

species as “rare” without considering the structure of this rarity predisposes analyses towards inconclusive results. We found no association between LA and reproductive ecology. LA may instead be driven by competitive dynamics or other density-dependent processes unrelated to reproductive ecology, for example by a strong negative relationship with soil biota (Klironomos 2002). Locally sparse prairie grasses have been found to tolerate interspecific competition better than intraspecific competition (Rabinowitz et al. 1984; Rabinowitz and Rapp selleck chemical 1985). Thus, locally sparse species may be sparse due to negative density dependence (strong intraspecific competition) and thus may persist in the landscape (Chesson 2000). On the other

hand, in a review of 57 rare plant species in Australia, Murray and Lepschi (2004) found that 91% of species characterized as locally sparse were, in fact, abundant somewhere within their range. This indicates that LA may not be a species-wide characteristic. When this is the case, we might not expect species grouped on this axis to share any ecological or biological attributes. There are biological, BAY 1895344 concentration ecological, and evolutionary mechanisms that allow some rare plant species to persist. However, rare species may still be vulnerable to extinction through anthropogenic impacts that disrupt the mechanisms that enable persistence-mechanisms such as bird dispersal for rare plants of large GR. In addition, species that are currently rare may have become so in recent history (Bekker and Kwak 2005), with their current distribution unrelated to their evolutionary history. Even when associations are found between biological/ecological traits and species distributions, we cannot presume an evolutionarily sustainable rarity syndrome

for these species. Adaptationist Paclitaxel clinical trial arguments should selleck kinase inhibitor always be made with care (Kunin and Gaston 1993) and should probably be avoided entirely for species that have only very recently become rare. While our analyses are predicated on the idea that similar evolutionary pressures may cause or reinforce particular forms of rarity, there are two very different types of species with small GR. Some species of small GR may be reduced from a formerly widespread range (paleoendemics), and some species may be rare but expanding into a new habitat (neo-endemics), having currently narrow ranges that may or may not widen in the future (Kruckeberg and Rabinowitz 1985). It is possible that, because our dataset was comprised mostly of papers from the conservation literature, paleoendemics had greater representation than neoendemics. We suspect cultural factors have had a role in the distribution of citations of Rabinowitz (1981) as legal definitions of rarity and extreme endangerment of species often drives research.