*3.3. Species and Phylogenetic Composition*

Sunshine Coast heath sites varied in their species composition with some groupings based on regional ecosystems apparent in the NMDS analysis (Figure 4). The heaths of the old volcanic, Mesozoic to Proterozoic rocky peaks (RE 12.12.10) displayed similarities in species composition between sites. In contrast, the heaths of the rocky pavements of Cainzoic igneous rocks, RE 12.8.19, were divided in two, with the Glasshouse Mountains clustering as a group and the sites further north on Mt Coolum and Mt Emu forming a separate grouping (Figure 4). There were strong similarities in species composition between the heaths of the dry dunes, RE 12.2.13, and RE12.2.9, whilst the remainder of the heath types, which are heathlands of alluvial or seasonally waterlogged areas, showed considerable overlap in species composition (Figure 4). Phylogenetic composition showed a similar patterning to the vegetation composition, but it is striking that the heath of the dry dunes, RE 12.2.13 and 12.2.9, appears more phylogenetically similar to the heaths of the dry rocky peaks, 12.12.10 and 12.8.19, than do the other heath types (Figure 4). Mantel tests indicated a significant strong and positive correlation (r = 0.8563, *p* < 0.001) between species composition and phylogenetic distance, whereas geographic distance between sites was very weakly correlated with phylogenetic distance (r = 0.1319, *p* = 0.006) and species composition (r = 0.1284, *p* = 0.006).

Whilst the "even" and "clustered" sites were scattered across the region (Figure 1), the even sites showed distinct similarities in terms of species composition and phylogenetic distance (Figure 4).

**Figure 4.** Comparison of non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) analyses for comparing relationships among 80 Sunshine Coast heathland sites. Vegetation composition using Bray–Curtis dissimilarity is shown on the (**left**) and phylogenetic Unifrac dissimilarity is on the (**right**). Sites have been coloured by their regional ecosystems (**above**) and by their NRI significance (**below**).
