Abstract Detail

Macroevolution

Meseguer, Andrea S. [1], Michel, Alice [2], Fabre, Pierre-Henri [2], Pérez-Escobar, Oscar A. [4], Chomicki, Guillaume [5], Riina, Ricarda [6], Antonelli, Alexandre [4], Antoine, Pierre-Olivier [2], Delsuc, Frédéric [2], Condamine, Fabien L. [2].

The origin and drivers of Neotropical plant and tetrapod diversification.

The origin of the outstanding Neotropical biodiversity is still debated. A comprehensive understanding is hindered by the lack of deep-time comparative data across wide phylogenetic and ecological contexts. Here we define and evaluate four evolutionary scenarios assuming different diversity trajectories and drivers of Neotropical diversification. Relying on 150 phylogenies (12,512 species) of seed plants and tetrapods, we found that diversity mostly expanded through time (70% of the clades), but scenarios of saturated (21%) and declining (9%) diversity also account for a substantial proportion of Neotropical diversity. These scenarios occur indistinctly across the major regions, habitats, and altitudes of the Neotropics, suggesting no geographic structure of Neotropical diversification. On the contrary, diversification dynamics differ across taxonomic groups: plant diversity mostly expanded through time (88%), while for a significant fraction of tetrapods (43%) diversity accumulated at a slower pace or declined toward the present. These opposite evolutionary patterns reflect different capacities for plants and tetrapods to cope with environmental change, especially in relation to climate cooling. Our results suggest that the assembly of Neotropical diversity is a long, clade-specific, and complex process resulting from a combination of gradual and pulse dynamics associated with environmental stability and instability over macroevolutionary scales.

Related Links:
Link to the manuscript (BioRxiv version) of the research presented in the talk

1 - Real Jardin Botanico, CSIC, Department of Plant Biodiversity and Conservation, Plaza de Murillo 2, Madrid, 28014, SPAIN
2 - Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (Université de , CNRS , IRD , EPHE)
3 - Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (Université de , CNRS , IRD , EPHE)
4 - Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK
5 - University of Sheffield, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences
6 - Real Jardin Botanico CSIC, Plaza De Murillo 2, Madrid, M, Madrid 28014, Spain
7 - Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (Université de , CNRS , IRD , EPHE)
8 - Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (Université de , CNRS , IRD , EPHE)
9 - Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (Université de , CNRS , IRD , EPHE)

Keywords:
Diversity dynamics
Speciation
Extinction
plants
tetrapods
climate
Andes
Cenozoic.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: MACROI, Macroevolution I
Location: Virtual/Virtual
Date: Tuesday, July 20th, 2021
Time: 12:45 PM(EDT)
Number: MACROI002
Abstract ID:40
Candidate for Awards:None