Abstract Detail

Modeling the processes that mediate speciation and extinction rates across plants

Howard, Cody [1], Tribble, Carrie [2], Sessa, Emily [3].

Plant diversification in Africa.

Three major areas of tropical rainforest ecosystems are found on Earth, in Africa, the Neotropics, and southeast Asia, and each of these houses their own unique diversity of plant life. Compared to the Neotropics and southeast Asia, tropical Africa is home to far fewer total plant species and therefore has been considered the “odd man out” in terms of the distribution of global tropical plant richness. This pattern has been found across different plant lineages, including monocots, eudicots, magnoliids, and ferns. Most studies investigating this pattern have occurred in tree and palm lineages, however. Furthermore, studies have used varying methods and geographical coding schemes, which can make comparisons across lineages/studies difficult to summarize. For example, some studies included Malagasy taxa in their coding of Africa, despite Madagascar showcasing its own unique assemblage of plants and evolutionary histories. Africa is also dominated by arid to semi-arid habitats, and some lineages within these regions are more diverse than their non-African relatives. Therefore, studying the evolutionary history of arid-adapted African lineages may provide a better understanding of the dynamics that have shaped lineages found in wetter parts of tropical Africa. We have used multiple clades from across the plant tree of life to test hypotheses regarding plant evolution and diversification within Africa. We incorporate biogeography-dependent models of diversification to better understand African plant diversification within different habitats across the continent. We compare the results for African lineages with those for non-African lineages, some of which are more, or less, diverse than their African relatives.

1 - University of Florida, Department of Biology, Gainesville, FL, USA
2 - University Of Hawaii At Manoa, Department Of Biology, 2538 McCarthy Mall, Edmondson Hall 216, Honolulu, HI, 96822, United States
3 - University Of Florida, Biology, Box 118525, 521A Bartram Hall, Gainesville, FL, 32611, United States

Keywords:
Africa
diversification
eudicots
ferns
magnoliids
monocots.

Presentation Type: Colloquium Presentations
Session: C01, Modeling the processes that mediate speciation and extinction rates across plants
Location: /
Date: Monday, July 19th, 2021
Time: 1:15 PM(EDT)
Number: C01011
Abstract ID:167
Candidate for Awards:None