Plant communities in tropical ancient mountains: how are they spatially and evolutionary structured?
Open Access
- 13 March 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society
- Vol. 197 (1), 15-24
- https://doi.org/10.1093/botlinnean/boab017
Abstract
The integration of phylogenetic methods and species distribution can really help in the investigation of biogeographic patterns and to fill gaps in evolutionary ecology. Here we investigated how the vascular flora of the Brazilian ancient Cipó Mountains, an alleged OCBIL (old, climatic buffered infertile landscape) with a high diversity of species and endemism, evolved across that harsh archipelago-like system and altitudinal gradient. We used a node-based analysis of species distributions that follows the concepts of over- and underrepresentation and takes into account the relationship between sister clades, to yield two very statistically tractable metrics: the geographical node divergence and specific over-representation score. We collected and identified plant species along an elevational gradient ranging from 800 to 1400 m a.s.l. We also collected environmental variables such as elevation and soil properties. We found three allopatric nodes, which revealed the major biogeographic shifts in this tropical mountaintop vegetation. We found evidence to support the idea that environmental filtering is significantly shaping the distribution of biological communities and is restraining clades in the phylogeny. We argue that our study offers new insights into the biogeographic history and distributional shifts of the ancient rocky grasslands flora and to mountaintop vegetation systems in general.Keywords
Funding Information
- São Paulo Research Foundation (2009/54208-6)
- FAPESP-Microsoft Research Institute (2013/50155-0)
- Fapesp-Vale (2010/51307- 0)
- National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (#400717/2013-1)
- CNPq (311820/2018-2)
This publication has 44 references indexed in Scilit:
- Neotropical Plant Evolution: Assembling the Big PictureBotanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012
- Molecular phylogenetics and biogeography of Neotropical Paepalanthoideae with emphasis on BrazilianPaepalanthus(Eriocaulaceae)Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012
- Phylogenetic niche conservatism: what are the underlying evolutionary and ecological causes?New Phytologist, 2012
- Areas of endemism in the Espinhaço Range in Minas Gerais, BrazilFlora, 2011
- Incorporating Clade Identity in Analyses of Phylogenetic Community Structure: An Example with HummingbirdsThe American Naturalist, 2010
- Elevational Gradients in Species RichnessPublished by Wiley ,2010
- Plantminer: A web tool for checking and gathering plant species taxonomic informationEnvironmental Modelling & Software, 2010
- Climate cooling promoted the expansion and radiation of a threatened group of South American orchids (Epidendroideae: Laeliinae)Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010
- OCBIL theory: towards an integrated understanding of the evolution, ecology and conservation of biodiversity on old, climatically buffered, infertile landscapesPlant and Soil, 2009
- Revisionary Studies in the Eriocaulaceae of VenezuelaAnnals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 1991