Abstract Detail

Mechanisms underlying exceptional plant diversity across eastern Asia

Harris, AJ [1], Wang, Huafeng [2].

Mechanisms underlying exceptional plant diversity across eastern Asia.

In this colloquium, we seek to showcase current work from diverse and integrative fields focused on discovering the underlying mechanisms that explain the exceptionally high levels of plant diversity characterizing temperate and subtropical eastern Asia. Eastern Asia is most often regarded as spanning the countries of China, Japan, Mongolia, North and South Korea, and sometimes eastern Russian and northern Vietnam. The region is globally recognized as an important hotspot of temperate and subtropical plant biodiversity as well as for its incredibly diverse assemblages of animals, fungi, and other organisms. Eastern Asia harbors 1.3-1.5 times more angiosperms and gymnosperms at multiple taxonomic levels compared to similar latitudes of North America and even more compared to Europe. Many mechanisms have been proposed to explain the high levels of plant biodiversity within eastern Asia, and these span a broad disciplinary spectrum. Proposed mechanisms include earth history processes, especially mountain building and changes in the eastern Asian monsoon, ecological processes, such as niche availability and saturation within highly heterogeneous environments, and evolutionary processes, such as high speciation rates or origination of lineages within eastern Asia. These mechanisms and others are likely not mutually exclusive and/or vary across taxonomic groups. For this colloquium, we seek to bring together speakers, who represent diverse botanical disciplines as well as ethnic, cultural, and gender diversity, to present their current research on the interacting mechanisms that explain the vast plant diversity of eastern Asia. We expect that the primary impacts of our colloquium will be to facilitate synthesis of disciplines and possibly lead to possible new, interdisciplinary collaborations that can advance the understanding of biodiversity in eastern Asia in creative ways. An additional outcome will be to better include global participants in the critical discussion on eastern Asian biodiversity

1 - South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy Of Sciences, Key Laboratory of Plant Resources Conservation and Sustainable Utilization, Xingke Road 723, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, Gungdong, 510650, China
2 - Hainan Universit

Keywords:
none specified

Presentation Type: Colloquium Presentations
Session: C04, Mechanisms underlying exceptional plant diversity across eastern Asia
Location: /
Date: Tuesday, July 20th, 2021
Time: 10:00 AM(EDT)
Number: C04SUM
Abstract ID:10
Candidate for Awards:None