Fast diversification through a mosaic of evolutionary histories characterizes the endemic flora of ancient Neotropical mountains

Author(s)

Vasconcelos, Thais N. C. ^{[1, 2]} ; Alcantara, Suzana ^[3] ; Andrino, Caroline O. ^{[1, 4]} ; Forest, Felix ^[5] ; Reginato, Marcelo ^[6] ; Simon, Marcelo F. ^[7] ; Pirani, Jose R. ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Lab Sistemat Vegetal, Dept Bot, BR-05508090 Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Arkansas, Dept Biol Sci, Fayetteville, AR 72701 - USA

^[3] Univ Fed Santa Catarina, Lab Sistemat Plantas Vasc, Dept Bot, BR-88040090 Florianopolis, SC - Brazil

^[4] Inst Tecnol Vale, Rua Boaventura da Silva 955, BR-66055090 Belem, PA - Brazil

^[5] Royal Bot Gardens, Jodrell Lab, Richmond TW9 3DS, Surrey - England

^[6] Univ Fed Rio Grande do Sul, Dept Bot, Inst Biociencias, BR-90650001 Porto Alegre, RS - Brazil

^[7] Embrapa Recursos Genet & Biotecnol, BR-70770917 Brasilia, DF - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; v. 287, n. 1923 MAR 25 2020.
• Web of Science Citations: 1

Abstract

Mountains are among the most biodiverse areas on the globe. In young mountain ranges, exceptional plant species richness is often associated with recent and rapid radiations linked to the mountain uplift itself. In ancient mountains, however, orogeny vastly precedes the evolution of vascular plants, so species richness has been explained by species accumulation during long periods of low extinction rates. Here we evaluate these assumptions by analysing plant diversification dynamics in the campo rupestre, an ecosystem associated with pre-Cambrian mountaintops and highlands of eastern South America, areas where plant species richness and endemism are among the highest in the world. Analyses of 15 angiosperm clades show that radiations of endemics exhibit fastest rates of diversification during the last 5 Myr, a climatically unstable period. However, results from ancestral range estimations using different models disagree on the age of the earliest in situ speciation events and point to a complex floristic assembly. There is a general trend for higher diversification rates associated with these areas, but endemism may also increase or reduce extinction rates, depending on the group. Montane habitats, regardless of their geological age, may lead to boosts in speciation rates by accelerating population isolation in archipelago-like systems, circumstances that can also result in higher extinction rates and fast species turnover, misleading the age estimates of endemic lineages. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 18/02191-1 - Diversification and conservation of the Espinhaço Mountain Range flora: building up a mega-diverse flora through a mosaic of evolutionary histories
• Grantee: Thais Nogales da Costa Vasconcelos
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral