Abstract Detail

Biogeography

Kuhnhäuser, Benedikt [1], Bellot, Sidonie [2], Chomicki, Guillaume [3], Eiserhardt, Wolf [4], Hiscock, Simon [1], Baker, William [2].

Species level biogeography of the ancient and mega-diverse Asian calamoid palms.

The tropical rainforests of Asia-Pacific are one of the world’s most species-rich habitats, yet their evolution remains insufficiently understood due to the highly complex geological history of the region, incomplete fossil record, and lack of well-resolved phylogenies of large plant radiations. Here, we propose the predominantly Asian palm subfamily Calamoideae as an apt group to address this knowledge gap. The subfamily consists of 555 species, has a rich fossil record dating back to the Late Cretaceous, and is taxonomically and systematically well studied. Although calamoid palms supply the raw materials for the billion-dollar rattan cane furniture industry, their species level relationships remain poorly understood. Here, we estimated the first dated fine-scale phylogeny for the Asian tribes Calameae and Eugeissoneae based on targeted sequencing of hundreds of genes from 479 species, making it one of the largest species-level phylogenies of the palm family and of the Asian-Pacific flora to date. On this basis, we present preliminary analyses that shed new light on the historical biogeography and assembly of the Asian-Pacific rainforests.

1 - University of Oxford, UK
2 - Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK
3 - University of Sheffield, UK
4 - Aarhus University, Denmark

Keywords:
Asia
biogeography
phylogenomics
tropical rainforests
species-level phylogeny.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: BIOGI, Biogeography I
Location: Virtual/Virtual
Date: Monday, July 19th, 2021
Time: 1:30 PM(EDT)
Number: BIOGI005
Abstract ID:394
Candidate for Awards:None