Multimillion-year climatic effects on palm species diversity in Africa.
Ecology
; 94(11): 2426-35, 2013 Nov.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-24400494
ABSTRACT
Past climatic changes have caused extinction, speciation, and range dynamics, but assessing the influence of past multimillion-year climatic imprints on present-day biodiversity patterns remains challenging. We analyzed a new continental-scale data set to examine the importance of paleoclimatic effects on current gradients in African palm richness patterns. Using climate reconstructions from the late Miocene (-10 mya), the Pliocene (-3 mya), and the Last Glacial Maximum (0.021 mya), we found that African palm diversity patterns exhibit pronounced historical legacies related to long-term climate change. Notably, pre-Pleistocene paleoprecipitation variables differentially affected current diversity patterns of palms grouped by contrasting habitat requirements. Accounting for present-day environment, rain forest palms exhibit greater species richness in localities where Pliocene precipitation was relatively high, whereas open-habitat palms show higher species richness in areas of relatively low precipitation during the Miocene Epoch. Our results demonstrate that diversity-climate relationships among African palm species include multimillion-year lagged dynamics, i.e., with historical legacies persisting across much longer time periods than commonly recognized.
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Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Genetic Variation
/
Climate Change
/
Arecaceae
Country/Region as subject:
Africa
Language:
En
Journal:
Ecology
Year:
2013
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Denmark