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Citation for Study 11132

Citation title: "Causes of Plant Diversification in the Cape Biodiversity Hotspot of South Africa".

Study name: "Causes of Plant Diversification in the Cape Biodiversity Hotspot of South Africa".

This study is part of submission 11122 (Status: Published).

Citation

Schnitzler J., Barraclough T., Boatwright J., Goldblatt P., Manning J.C., Powell M., Rebelo T., & Savolainen V. 2011. Causes of Plant Diversification in the Cape Biodiversity Hotspot of South Africa. Systematic Biology, .

Authors

• Schnitzler J. (submitter)
• Barraclough T.
• Boatwright J.
• Goldblatt P.
• Manning J.C.
• Powell M.
• Rebelo T.
• Savolainen V.

Abstract

The Cape region of South Africa is one of the most remarkable hotspots of biodiversity with a flora comprising more than 9,000 plant species, almost 70% of which are endemic, within an area of only ? 90,000 km2. Much of the diversity is due to an exceptionally large contribution of just a few clades which radiated substantially within this region, but little is known about the causes of these radiations. Here, we present a comprehensive analysis of plant speciation, using near complete species-level phylogenies of four major Cape clades (more than 470 species): the genus Protea, a tribe of legumes (Podalyrieae) and two speciose genera within the iris family (Babiana and Moraea), representing three of the seven largest plant families in this biodiversity hotspot. Combining these molecular phylogenetic data with ecological and biogeographical information, we tested key hypotheses that have been proposed to explain the radiation of the Cape flora. Our results show that the radiations started throughout the Oligocene and Miocene and that net diversification rates have remained constant over time at globally moderate rates. Furthermore, using sister-species comparisons to assess the impact of different factors on speciation, we identified soil type shifts as the most important cause of speciation in Babiana, Moraea and Protea, while shifts in fire-survival strategy is the most important factor for Podalyrieae. Contrary to previous findings in other groups, such as orchids, pollination syndromes show a high degree of phylogenetic conservatism, including groups with a large number of specialised pollination syndromes like Moraea. We conclude that the combination of complex environmental conditions together with relative climatic stability promoted high speciation and/or low extinction rates as the most likely scenario leading to present-day patterns of hyper-diversity in the Cape.

External links

About this resource

• Canonical resource URI: http://purl.org/phylo/treebase/phylows/study/TB2:S11132
• Other versions: Nexus NeXML
• Show BibTeX reference

  		@ARTICLE{TreeBASE2Ref19420,
  	 author = {Jan  Schnitzler and Timothy G.  Barraclough and James Stephen  Boatwright and Peter  Goldblatt and J.  C. Manning and Martyn P.  Powell and Tony G.  Rebelo and Vincent  Savolainen},
  	 title = {Causes of Plant Diversification in the Cape Biodiversity Hotspot of South Africa},
  	 year = {2011},
  	 keywords = {},
  	 doi = {},
  	 url = {http://},
  	 pmid = {},
  	 journal = {Systematic Biology},
  	 volume = {},
  	 number = {},
  	 pages = {},
  	 abstract = {The Cape region of South Africa is one of the most remarkable hotspots of biodiversity with a flora comprising more than 9,000 plant species, almost 70% of which are endemic, within an area of only ? 90,000 km2. Much of the diversity is due to an exceptionally large contribution of just a few clades which radiated substantially within this region, but little is known about the causes of these radiations. Here, we present a comprehensive analysis of plant speciation, using near complete species-level phylogenies of four major Cape clades (more than 470 species): the genus Protea, a tribe of legumes (Podalyrieae) and two speciose genera within the iris family (Babiana and Moraea), representing three of the seven largest plant families in this biodiversity hotspot. Combining these molecular phylogenetic data with ecological and biogeographical information, we tested key hypotheses that have been proposed to explain the radiation of the Cape flora. Our results show that the radiations started throughout the Oligocene and Miocene and that net diversification rates have remained constant over time at globally moderate rates. Furthermore, using sister-species comparisons to assess the impact of different factors on speciation, we identified soil type shifts as the most important cause of speciation in Babiana, Moraea and Protea, while shifts in fire-survival strategy is the most important factor for Podalyrieae. Contrary to previous findings in other groups, such as orchids, pollination syndromes show a high degree of phylogenetic conservatism, including groups with a large number of specialised pollination syndromes like Moraea. We conclude that the combination of complex environmental conditions together with relative climatic stability promoted high speciation and/or low extinction rates as the most likely scenario leading to present-day patterns of hyper-diversity in the Cape.}
  }
  		

• Show RIS reference

  		TY  - JOUR
  ID  - 19420
  AU  - Schnitzler,Jan 
  AU  - Barraclough,Timothy G. 
  AU  - Boatwright,James Stephen 
  AU  - Goldblatt,Peter 
  AU  - Manning,J.  C.
  AU  - Powell,Martyn P. 
  AU  - Rebelo,Tony G. 
  AU  - Savolainen,Vincent 
  T1  - Causes of Plant Diversification in the Cape Biodiversity Hotspot of South Africa
  PY  - 2011
  KW  - 
  UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
  N2  - The Cape region of South Africa is one of the most remarkable hotspots of biodiversity with a flora comprising more than 9,000 plant species, almost 70% of which are endemic, within an area of only ? 90,000 km2. Much of the diversity is due to an exceptionally large contribution of just a few clades which radiated substantially within this region, but little is known about the causes of these radiations. Here, we present a comprehensive analysis of plant speciation, using near complete species-level phylogenies of four major Cape clades (more than 470 species): the genus Protea, a tribe of legumes (Podalyrieae) and two speciose genera within the iris family (Babiana and Moraea), representing three of the seven largest plant families in this biodiversity hotspot. Combining these molecular phylogenetic data with ecological and biogeographical information, we tested key hypotheses that have been proposed to explain the radiation of the Cape flora. Our results show that the radiations started throughout the Oligocene and Miocene and that net diversification rates have remained constant over time at globally moderate rates. Furthermore, using sister-species comparisons to assess the impact of different factors on speciation, we identified soil type shifts as the most important cause of speciation in Babiana, Moraea and Protea, while shifts in fire-survival strategy is the most important factor for Podalyrieae. Contrary to previous findings in other groups, such as orchids, pollination syndromes show a high degree of phylogenetic conservatism, including groups with a large number of specialised pollination syndromes like Moraea. We conclude that the combination of complex environmental conditions together with relative climatic stability promoted high speciation and/or low extinction rates as the most likely scenario leading to present-day patterns of hyper-diversity in the Cape.
  L3  - 
  JF  - Systematic Biology
  VL  - 
  IS  - 
  ER  -