Origin and diversification of the Greater Cape flora: Ancient species repository, hot-bed of recent radiation, or both?

Verboom, G. Anthony; Archibald, Jenny K.; Bakker, Freek T.; Du, Baoheng; Conrad, Ferozah; Dreyer, L.L.; Forest, Félix; Galley, Chloé; Goldblatt, Peter; Henning, Jack; Mummenhoff, Klaus; Linder, H. Peter; Muasya, A. Muthama; Oberlander, Kenneth C.; Savolainen, Vincent; Snijman, D. A.; Niet, Timotheüs van der; Nowell, Tracey L.

doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2008.01.037

Cited by 204 publications

(191 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…While we currently lack data on the aloes, stonecrops, and asclepiads, every arid-adapted succulent lineage investigated thus far has followed a similar tempo of evolution: Although the origins of a pronounced succulent syndrome in these groups vary widely between ≈40 and 10 Ma, they all share a single timeframe of extensive global diversification in the late Miocene-Pliocene. Studies of other desert (nonsucculent) plants from various regions have also demonstrated a similar pattern of recent radiation (17)(18)(19)(20). The simultaneous diversification of arid-adapted lineages provides a general insight into the history of the world's arid regions, which has been limited by a bias against fossil formation in dry environments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…This timeframe was also a period of significant Andean uplift activity, which both intensified and expanded arid environments throughout most of western South America (22). Eastern Africa was similarly experiencing increasing aridity possibly due to shifts in ocean (23) or atmospheric (24) circulation, and around this time a winter rainfall precipitation regime became established in the South African Karoo region (14,20). 14), and light green represents our estimated age of the same node ("core Rushioideae"; ref.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Contemporaneous and recent radiations of the world's major succulent plant lineages

Arakaki

Christin

Nyffeler

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

484

483

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The cacti are one of the most celebrated radiations of succulent plants. There has been much speculation about their age, but progress in dating cactus origins has been hindered by the lack of fossil data for cacti or their close relatives. Using a hybrid phylogenomic approach, we estimated that the cactus lineage diverged from its closest relatives ≈35 million years ago (Ma). However, major diversification events in cacti were more recent, with most species-rich clades originating in the late Miocene, ≈10-5 Ma. Diversification rates of several cactus lineages rival other estimates of extremely rapid speciation in plants. Major cactus radiations were contemporaneous with those of South African ice plants and North American agaves, revealing a simultaneous diversification of several of the world's major succulent plant lineages across multiple continents. This short geological time period also harbored the majority of origins of C 4 photosynthesis and the global rise of C 4 grasslands. A global expansion of arid environments during this time could have provided new ecological opportunity for both succulent and C 4 plant syndromes. Alternatively, recent work has identified a substantial decline in atmospheric CO 2 ≈15-8 Ma, which would have strongly favored C 4 evolution and expansion of C 4 -dominated grasslands. Lowered atmospheric CO 2 would also substantially exacerbate plant water stress in marginally arid environments, providing preadapted succulent plants with a sharp advantage in a broader set of ecological conditions and promoting their rapid diversification across the landscape.climate change | paleobotany | CAM photosynthesis P lants are generally classified as succulent when they exhibit pronounced water storage in one or more organs. High degrees of succulence are most often associated with a suite of other characteristics that together confer survival in water-limited environments. This "succulent syndrome" usually includes a shallow root system that permits rapid uptake of unpredictable precipitation; a thick, waxy cuticle that prevents excessive water loss; and Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM), an alternative photosynthetic pathway that allows plants to uptake atmospheric CO 2 at night when water loss is minimized (1). Although some 30 plant lineages have been classified as succulent, only a small subset of those are species-rich and ecologically important elements of arid and semiarid ecosystems worldwide. These lineages include the ice plants (Aizoaceae, ≈2,000 spp), the spurges (Euphorbia, ≈2,100 spp., ≈650 of which are succulent), the stonecrops (Crassulaceae, ≈1,400 spp.), the aloes (Aloe, ≈400 spp.), the agaves (Agave, ≈200 spp.), the stapeliads and asclepiads (Apocynaceae-Asclepiadoideae, ≈3,700 spp., ≈1,150 of which are succulent) and especially the cacti (Cactaceae, ≈1,850 spp.) (2).The cacti represent the most spectacular New World radiation of succulent plants. Most cacti exhibit a highly specialized life form, with extremely succulent, photosynthetic stems and leaves that have been mo...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contemporaneous and recent radiations of the world's major succulent plant lineages

Arakaki

Christin

Nyffeler

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

484

483

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…More striking is how few clades contributed substantially to this enormous species richness, and about half of the species can be attributed to just over 30 Cape clades (Linder, 2003). These clades have been well studied, indicating that most of the radiations of these clades date from the Miocene (Linder, 2005;Verboom et al, 2009), although in many cases the stem ages are much older. Many of these radiating clades are centered on, or even restricted to, the highly oligotrophic sandy soils derived from the sandstone bedrock of the Cape fold mountains, suggesting that they might be edaphic specialists predating the probably late Miocene origin of the unusual winter-rainfall climate (Dupont et al, 2011).…”

Section: Austro-temperate Floramentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of African plant diversity

Linder¹

2014

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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“…However, climate alone cannot explain species diversity in the CFR, as the region contains more than twice as many species as expected by global environmental models [23]. A consensus is therefore emerging that the history of diversification in the Cape, possibly the combination of a long history of speciation [24,25] with the existence of long-term stable environment [25,26] might be key to the exceptional modern diversity. Thus, in order to understand the origins of this remarkable diversity, it is essential to correlate speciation history of its elements with the evolution of the relevant modern environments, including fire regime, climate and edaphic conditions [27,28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating the age of fire in the Cape flora of South Africa from an orchid phylogeny

Bytebier

Antonelli

et al. 2010

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Fire may have been a crucial component in the evolution of the Cape flora of South Africa, a region characterized by outstanding levels of species richness and endemism. However, there is, to date, no critical assessment of the age of the modern fire regime in this biome. Here, we exploit the presence of two obligate post-fire flowering clades in the orchid genus Disa, in conjunction with a robust, well-sampled and dated molecular phylogeny, to estimate the age by which fire must have been present. Our results indicate that summer drought (winter rainfall), the fire regime and the fynbos vegetation are several million years older than currently suggested. Summer drought and the fynbos vegetation are estimated to date back to at least the Early Miocene (ca 19.5 Ma). The current fire regime may have been established during a period of global cooling that followed the mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum (ca 15 Ma), which led to the expansion of open habitats and increased aridification. The first appearance of Disa species in the grassland biome, as well as in the subalpine habitat, is in striking agreement with reliable geological and palaeontological evidence of the age of these ecosystems, thus corroborating the efficacy of our methods. These results change our understanding of the historical mechanisms underlying botanical evolution in southern Africa, and confirm the potential of using molecular phylogenies to date events for which other information is lacking or inconclusive.

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Origin and diversification of the Greater Cape flora: Ancient species repository, hot-bed of recent radiation, or both?

Cited by 204 publications

References 53 publications

Contemporaneous and recent radiations of the world's major succulent plant lineages

Contemporaneous and recent radiations of the world's major succulent plant lineages

The evolution of African plant diversity

Estimating the age of fire in the Cape flora of South Africa from an orchid phylogeny

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