Vascular plant diversity in eastern Asia and North America: historical and ecological explanations

Taxonomic diversity of vascular plants (ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms) was compared between eastern Asia and North America. Eastern Asia has significantly higher species richness in all three classes but the difference was greatest in ferns and least in angiosperms. Differences in taxonomic treatments between the two continents are not likely contributors to these patterns. The relationship of regional to global species richness across the three plant classes suggested that diversity patterns were relatively homogeneous at three taxonomic levels. Thus, differences in species richness are established at the family level and are therefore relatively old. The previously noted fact that eastern Asia has a higher proportion of primitive taxa was shown by analyses both among and within plant classes. Diversity patterns across three taxonomic levels (i.e. family, genus and species) of the three classes may reflect the relative historical positions of the two continents (following continental drift) to the centre(s) of their origin, neighbouring land masses, differential speciation/extinction rates, and switches in dominance levels associated with climate change (including glaciation), as well as reproductive/dispersal mechanisms of the three plant classes.     

Inferring the biogeographic origins of inter‐continental disjunct endemics using a Bayes‐DIVA approach

The arcto‐Tertiary relictual flora is comprised of many genera that occur non‐contiguously in the temperate zones of eastern Asia, Europe, eastern North America, and western North America. Within each distributional area, species are typically endemic and may thus be widely separated from closely related species within the other areas. It is widely accepted that this common pattern of distribution resulted from of the fragmentation of a once more‐continuous arcto‐Tertiary forest. The historical biogeographic events leading to the present‐day disjunction have often been investigated using a phylogenetic approach. Limitations to these previous studies have included phylogenetic uncertainty and uncertainty in ancestral range reconstructions. However, the recently described Bayes‐DIVA method handles both types of uncertainty. Thus, we used Bayes‐DIVA analysis to reconstruct the stem lineage distributions for 185 endemic lineages from 23 disjunct genera representing 17 vascular plant families. In particular, we asked whether endemic lineages within each of the four distributional areas more often evolved from (1) widespread ancestors, (2) ancestors dispersed from other areas, or (3) endemic ancestors. We also considered which of these three biogeographic mechanisms may best explain the origins of arcto‐Tertiary disjunct endemics in the neotropics. Our results show that eastern Asian endemics more often evolved from endemic ancestors compared to endemics in Europe and eastern and western North America. Present‐day endemic lineages in the latter areas more often arose from widespread ancestors. Our results also provide anecdotal evidence for the importance of dispersal in the biogeographic origins of arcto‐Tertiary species endemic in the neotropics.     

Taxonomic diversity of the terrestrial bird and mammal fauna in temperate and boreal biomes of the northern hemisphere

Abstract. Using comprehensive range information of northern Hemisphere birds and mammals, we assessed the taxonomic diversity of these two groups in four different regions: Europe, east Asia, and western and eastern North America. East Asia is the richest region in the number of bird and mammal species, genera, families and orders, except that mammal species richness is highest in western North America. Eastern North America is taxonomically the poorest region, but when only forest-associated taxa were considered in mammals taxonomic diversity is equally low in Europe and in eastern North America, and in birds, Europe is the least diverse region. Patterns in endemic taxa follow overall taxonomic diversity. The proportion of shared taxa between regions is higher among boreal species and genera than among all taxa. A comparison with tree species diversity underpins the role of east Asia as the most diverse of all northern biota. Largely congruent patterns at different taxonomic levels emphasizes the role of historical processes, such as differential extinction rate in response to paleoenvironmental fluctuations, in producing these patterns, but we stress the need for more research on the coevolution of species diversity and habitat diversity.     

Phylogenetics and evolution of the eastern Asian-eastern North American disjunct aphid tribe,Hormaphidini (Hemiptera: Aphididae)

A conspicuous biogeographic pattern of the Northern Hemisphere is the disjunct occurrence of related taxa on different continents. Perhaps best studied in plants, this pattern includes disjunct distributions of genera in eastern Asia and eastern North America. Such continental disjunctions are thought to be the remnants of a mostly continuously distributed, mixed mesophytic forest dating to the Miocene, which subsequently became fragmented by geological and climatic changes. Some highly host-specific insects, namely aphids, live on descendants of the mixed mesophytic forest taxa and exhibit the same disjunct distributions as that of their host plants. We estimated the phylogeny of Hormaphidini aphids, which host-alternate between witch-hazel (Hamamelis; an eastern Asian-eastern North American disjunct genus) and birch (Betula). Based on partial nuclear elongation factor 1alpha and mitochondrial tRNA leucine/cytochrome oxidase II sequences, trees inferred from maximum-parsimony and maximum-likelihood showed strong support for two monophyletic genera (Hamamelistes and Hormaphis), each containing a clade of Japanese and a clade of North American species. The estimated divergence dates of Asian and North American clades in both genera was 20-30 million years ago, consistent with the idea that aphids may have experienced the same vicariance events as those of their host plants.     

Does the Arcto-Tertiary Biogeographic Hypothesis Explain the Disjunct Distribution of Northern Hemisphere Herbaceous Plants? The Case of Meehania (Lamiaceae)

Despite considerable progress, many details regarding the evolution of the Arcto-Tertiary flora, including the timing, direction, and relative importance of migration routes in the evolution of woody and herbaceous taxa of the Northern Hemisphere, remain poorly understood. Meehania (Lamiaceae) comprises seven species and five subspecies of annual or perennial herbs, and is one of the few Lamiaceae genera known to have an exclusively disjunct distribution between eastern Asia and eastern North America. We analyzed the phylogeny and biogeographical history of Meehania to explore how the Arcto-Tertiary biogeographic hypothesis and two possible migration routes explain the disjunct distribution of Northern Hemisphere herbaceous plants. Parsimony and Bayesian inference were used for phylogenetic analyses based on five plastid sequences (rbcL, rps16, rpl32-trnH, psbA-trnH, and trnL-F) and two nuclear (ITS and ETS) gene regions. Divergence times and biogeographic inferences were performed using Bayesian methods as implemented in BEAST and S-DIVA, respectively. Analyses including 11 of the 12 known Meehania taxa revealed incongruence between the chloroplast and nuclear trees, particularly in the positions of Glechoma and Meehania cordata, possibly indicating allopolyploidy with chloroplast capture in the late Miocene. Based on nrDNA, Meehania is monophyletic, and the North American species M. cordata is sister to a clade containing the eastern Asian species. The divergence time between the North American M. cordata and the eastern Asian species occurred about 9.81 Mya according to the Bayesian relaxed clock methods applied to the combined nuclear data. Biogeographic analyses suggest a primary role of the Arcto-Tertiary flora in the study taxa distribution, with a northeast Asian origin of Meehania. Our results suggest an Arcto-Tertiary origin of Meehania, with its present distribution most probably being a result of vicariance and southward migrations of populations during climatic oscillations in the middle Miocene with subsequent migration into eastern North America via the Bering land bridge in the late Miocene.     

Timing the eastern Asian-eastern North American floristic disjunction: molecular clock corroborates paleontological estimates

Sequence data of the chloroplast gene rbcL were used to estimate the time of the well-known eastern Asian-eastern North American floristic disjunction. Sequence divergence of rbcL was examined for 22 species of 11 genera (Campsis, Caulophyllum, Cornus, Decumaria, Liriodendron, Menispermum, Mitchella, Pachysandra, Penthorum, Podophyllum, and Phryma) representing a diverse array of flowering plants occurring disjunctly in eastern Asia and eastern North America. Divergence times of putative disjunct species pairs were estimated from synonymous substitutions, using rbcL molecular clocks calibrated for Cornus. Relative rate tests were performed to assess rate constancy of rbcL evolution among lineages. Corrections of estimates of divergence times for each species pair were made based on rate differences of rbcL between Cornus and other species pairs. Results of these analyses indicate that the time of divergence of species pairs examined ranges from 12.56 +/- 4.30 million years to recent (<0.31 million years), with most within the last 10 million years (in the late Miocene and Pliocene). These results suggest that the isolation of most morphologically similar disjunct species in eastern Asia and eastern North America occurred during the global climatic cooling period that took place throughout the late Tertiary and Quaternary. This estimate is closely correlated with paleontological evidence and in agreement with the hypothesis that considers the eastern Asian-eastern North American floristic disjunction to be the result of the range restriction of a once more or less continuously distributed mixed mesophytic forest of the Northern Hemisphere that occurred during the late Tertiary and Quaternary. This implies that in most taxa the disjunction may have resulted from vicariance events. However, long-distance dispersal may explain the disjunct distribution of taxa with low divergence, such as Menispermum.     

Eastern Asian endemic seed plant genera and their paleogeographic history throughout the Northern Hemisphere

We review the fossil history of seed plant genera that are now endemic to eastern Asia. Although the majority of eastern Asian endemic genera have no known fossil record at all, 54 genera, or about 9%, are reliably known from the fossil record. Most of these are woody (with two exceptions), and most are today either broadly East Asian, or more specifically confined to Sino-Japanese subcategory rather than being endemic to the Sino-Himalayan area. Of the "eastern Asian endemic" genera so far known from the fossil record, the majority formerly occurred in Europe and/or North America, indicating that eastern Asia served as a late Tertiary or Quaternary refugium for taxa. Hence, many of these genera may have originated in other parts of the Northern Hemisphere and expanded their ranges across continents and former sea barriers when tectonic and climatic conditions al-lowed, leading to their arrival in eastern Asia. Although clear evidence for paleoendemism is provided by the gymnosperms Amentotaxus, Cathaya, Cephalotaxus, Cunninghamia, Cryptomeria, Glyptostrobus, Ginkgo, Ketel-eeria, Metasequoia, Nothotsuga, Pseudolarix, Sciadopitys, and Taiwania, and the angiosperms Cercidiphyllum, Choerospondias, Corylopsis, Craigia, Cyclocarya, Davidia, Dipelta, Decaisnea, Diplopanax, Dipteronia, Em-menopterys, Eucommia, Euscaphis, Hemiptelea, Hovenia, Koelreuteria, Paulownia, Phellodendron, Platycarya, Pteroceltis, Rehderodendron, Sargentodoxa, Schizophragma, Sinomenium, Tapiscia, Tetracentron, Toricellia,Trapella, and Trochodendron, we cannot rule out the possibility that neoendemism plays an important role espe-cially for herbaceous taxa in the present-day flora of Asia, particularly in the Sino-Himalayan region. In addition to reviewing paleobotanical occurrences from the literature, we document newly recognized fossil occurrences that expand the geographic and stratigraphic ranges previously known for Dipelta, Pteroceltis, and Toricellia.     

Regional differences in rates of plant speciation and molecular evolution: a comparison between eastern Asia and eastern North America

The eastern Asian (EAS)-eastern North American (ENA) floristic disjunction is one of the best-known biogeographic patterns in the Northern Hemisphere. Recent paleontological and molecular analyses have illuminated the origins of the biogeographic pattern, but subsequent diversification and evolution of the disjunct floras in each of the two continents after isolation remains poorly understood. Although similar in climate and floristic composition, EAS has twice as many species as ENA in genera occurring in both regions. Explaining such differences in species diversity between regions with similar environmental conditions (diversity anomalies) is an important goal of the study of the global patterns of biodiversity. We used a phylogenetic approach to compare rates of net speciation and molecular evolution between the two regions. We first identified EAS-ENA disjunct sister clades from ten genera (Asarum, Buckleya, Carpinus, Carya, Cornus, Hamamelis, Illicium, Panax, Stewartia, and Styrax) that represent diverse angiosperm lineages using phylogenetic analyses of ITS (internal transcribed spacer of nuclear ribosomal DNA) sequence data. Species richness and substitution rate of ITS between sister clades were compared. The results revealed a pattern of greater species diversity in the EAS counterparts. A positive relationship between species diversity and ITS substitution rate was also documented. These results suggest greater net speciation and accelerated molecular evolution in EAS. The data support the idea that a regional difference in net speciation rate related to topographic heterogeneity contributes to the diversity anomaly between EAS and ENA. The close relationship between rates of ITS evolution and species richness further suggests that species production may be directly linked to rate of nucleotide substitution.     

Intercontinental disjunctions between eastern Asia and western North America in vascular plants highlight the biogeographic importance of the Bering land bridge from late Cretaceous to Neogene

This review shows a close biogeographic connection between eastern Asia and western North America from the late Cretaceous to the late Neogene in major lineages of vascular plants (flowering plants, gymnosperms, ferns and lycophytes). Of the eastern Asian–North American disjuncts, conifers exhibit a high proportion of disjuncts between eastern Asia and western North America. Several lineages of ferns also show a recent disjunct pattern in the two areas. In flowering plants, the pattern is commonly shown in temperate elements between northeastern Asia and northwestern North America, as well as elements of the relict boreotropical and Neogene mesophytic and coniferous floras. The many cases of intercontinental biogeographic disjunctions between eastern Asia and western North America in plants supported by recent phylogenetic analyses highlight the importance of the Bering land bridge and/or the plant migrations across the Beringian region from the late Cretaceous to the late Neogene, especially during the Miocene. The Beringian region has permitted the filtering and migration of certain plant taxa since the Pliocene after the opening of the Bering Strait, as many conspecific taxa or closely related species occur on both sides of Beringia.     

Deterministic Plio-Pleistocene extinctions in the European cool-temperate tree flora

Extinctions have been important in the shaping of modern phytogeographic patterns. A classic example is the heavy Plio‐Pleistocene losses that have caused Europe to have a depauperate temperate tree flora compared to eastern North America and eastern Asia. To investigate the mechanisms involved in this extinction event, I test the hypothesis that the present European status (extinct, relictual, or widespread) of cool‐temperate tree genera found in Pliocene Europe is predictable from their modern climatic requirements. As a prerequisite for this analysis, I test for genus‐level conservatism in climatic requirements by comparing congeneric values across Europe, eastern Asia and North America, and find strong evidence hereof. I find a high degree of ecological determinism in the fate of European Pliocene tree genera, still widespread taxa being more tolerant of cold growing season and winter temperatures than extinct and relictual taxa, and relictual taxa being more drought tolerant than extinct taxa.     

The genus Artemisia (Asteraceae: Anthemideae) at a continental crossroads: molecular insights into migrations, disjunctions, and reticulations among Old and New World species from a Beringian perspective

Artemisia is the largest genus (ca. 350-500+ spp.) in the tribe Anthemideae and is composed of ecologically, morphologically, and chemically diverse species that are found primarily throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Two major centers of diversity for the genus are located in Eurasia and western North America, but phytogeographic links connecting these two regions are observed all across the North Pacific Rim and adjacent areas in the Arctic, including many islands and archipelagos. Previous phylogenetic studies have helped to clarify major lineages and identify likely sister relationships, but many questions remain unanswered regarding the relationships and migration history of New and Old World species. Here we investigate the phylogenetics of Artemisia within a biogeographic context centered in the Beringian Region and offer new hypotheses concerning species relationships, migration history, and the likely role of reticulate evolution in the genus. Our sampling included many new taxa and emphasized multiple accessions of widespread species, species from proposed refugia, and species with disjunct/vicariant distributions. The ITS phylogeny contained 173 accessions (94 new and 79 from GenBank) and indicated that Artemisia is paraphyletic by the exclusion of several small Asian genera and the North American genus Sphaeromeria. Following a survey of thirteen chloroplast loci, phylogenies based on two plastid markers (psbA-trnH and rpl32-trnL spacers) were constructed with a reduced data set, and though largely consistent with the ITS topology, revealed several cases of possible introgression among New World and Beringian species. Our analysis reveals that North American Artemisia species have multiple origins, and that western North America has served as a source for some colonizing elements in eastern Asia and South America.     

Origin,Differentiation, and Geographic Distribution of the Chenopodiaceae

Numbers of species and genera,endemic genera,extant primitive genera,relationship and distribution patterns of presently living Chenopodiaceae(two subfamilies,12 tribes,and 118 genera)are analyzed and compared for eight distributional areas,namely central Asia,Europe,the Mediterranean region,Africa,North America,South America, Australia and East Asia． The Central Asia,where the number of genera and diversity of taxa are greater than in other areas,appears to be the center of distribution of extant Chenopodiaceae．North America and Australia are two secondary centers of distribution． Eurasia has 11 tribes out of the 12,a total of 70 genera of extant chenopodiaceous plants,and it contains the most primitive genera of every tribe． Archiatriplex of Atripliceae,Hablitzia of Hablitzeae,Corispermum of Corispermeae,Camphorosma of Camphorosmaea,Kalidium of Salicornieae,Polecnemum of Polycnemeae,Alexandra of Suaedeae,and Nanophyton of Salsoleae,are all found in Eurasia,The Beteae is an Eurasian endemic tribe,demonstrating the antiquity of the Chenopodiaceae flora of Eurasia．Hence,Eurasia is likely the place of origin of chenopodiaceous plants． The presence of chenopodiaceous plants is correlated with an arid climate．During the Cretaceous Period,most places of the continent of Eurasia were occupied by the ancient precursor to the Mediterranean,the Tethys Sea．At that time the area of the Tethys Sea had a dry and warm climate．Therefore,primitive Chenopodiaceae were likely present on the beaches of this ancient land．This arid climatic condition resulted in differentiation of the tribes Chenopodieae,Atripliceae,Comphorosmeae,Salicornieae,etc．,the main primitive tribes of the subfamily Cyclolobeae. Then following continental drift and the Laurasian and Gondwanan disintegration, the Chenopodiaceae were brought to every continent to propagate and develop, and experience the vicissitudes of climates, forming the main characteristics and distribution patterns of recent continental floras. The tribes Atripliceae, Chenopodieae, Camphorosmeae, and Salicornieae of recent Chenopodiaceae in Eurasia, North America, South America, southern Africa, and Australia all became strongly differentiated. However, Australia and South America, have no genera of Spirolobeae except for a few maritime Suaeda species. The Salsoleae and Suaedeae have not arrived in Australia and South America, which indicates that the subfamily Spirolobeae developed in Eurasia after Australia separated from the ancient South America-Africa continent, and South America had left Africa. The endemic tribe of North America, the tribe Sarcobateae, has a origin different from the tribes Salsoleae and Suaedeae of the subfamily Spirolobeae. Sarcobateae flowers diverged into unisexuality and absence of bractlets. Clearly they originated in North America after North America had left the Eurasian continent. North America and southern Africa have a few species of Salsola, but none of them have become very much differentiated or developed, so they must have arrived through overland migration across ancient continental connections. India has no southern African Chenopodiaceae floristic components except for a few maritime taxa, which shows that when the Indian subcontinent left Africa in the Triassic period, the Chenopodiaceae had not yet developed in Africa. Therefore, the early Cretaceous Period about 120 million years ago, when the ancient Gondwanan and Laurasian continents disintegrated, could have been the time of origin of Chenopodiaceae plants.The Chinese flora of Chenopodiaceae is a part of Chenopodiaceae flora of central Asia. Cornulaca alaschnica was discovered from Gansu, China, showing that the Chinese Chenopodiaceae flora certainly has contact with the Mediterranean Chenopodiaceae flora. The contact of southeastern China with the Australia Chenopodiaceae flora, however, is very weak.     

藜科植物的起源、分化和地理分布

全球藜科植物共约130属1500余种,广泛分布于欧亚大陆、南北美洲、非洲和大洋洲的半干旱及盐碱地区。它基本上是一个温带科,对亚热带和寒温带也有一定的适应性。本文分析了该科包含的1l族的系统位置和分布式样,以及各个属的分布区,提出中亚区是现存藜科植物的分布中心,原始的藜科植物在古地中海的东岸即华夏陆台(或中国的西南部)发生,然后向干旱的古地中海沿岸迁移、分化,产生了环胚亚科主要族的原始类群;起源的时间可能在白垩纪初,冈瓦纳古陆和劳亚古陆进一步解体的时期。文章对其迁移途径及现代分布式样形成的原因进行了讨论。     

Assembly of Alaska‐Yukon boreal steppe communities: Testing biogeographic hypotheses via modern ecological distributions

Beringia (eastern Asia, Alaska, northwest Canada) has been a land‐bridge dispersal route between Asia and North America intermittently since the Mesozoic Era. The Quaternary, the most recent period of exchange, is characterized by large, geologically rapid climate fluctuations and sea‐level changes that alternately expose and inundate the land‐bridge region. Insights into how Quaternary land‐bridge geography has controlled species exchange and assembly of the North American flora comes from focusing on a restricted community with narrow ecological tolerances: species that are today restricted to isolated steppe habitats (dry grasslands) in the Subarctic. We evaluated (i) potential controls over current spatial distributions of steppe plants and their pollinators in Alaska and Yukon and (ii) their ecological distributions in relation to potential biogeographic histories. Taxa present in North America that are disjunct from Asia tended to have larger altitudinal ranges (tolerating colder temperatures) than taxa disjunct from farther south in North America, which were largely restricted to the warmest, lowest‐elevation sites. Ecological findings support the following biogeographic scenarios. Migration from Asia via the land‐bridge occurred during Quaternary glacial periods when conditions were colder and drier than today. While a corridor for migration of cold‐tolerant species of cold steppe and tundra, the land bridge acted as a filter that excluded warmth‐demanding species. Migration from North America occurred under warm, dry interglacial conditions; thermophilous North American disjuncts taking this route may have long histories in Beringia, or they may have migrated recently during the relatively warm and dry early Holocene, when forest cover was incomplete.     

Historical isolation,range expansion,and secondary contact of two highly divergent mitochondrial lineages in spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum)

Abstract.— The high species diversity of aquatic and terrestrial faunas in eastern North America has been attributed to range reductions and allopatric diversification resulting from historical climate change. The role these processes may have played in speciation is still a matter of considerable debate; however, their impacts on intraspecific genetic structure have been well documented. We use mitochondrial DNA sequences to reconstruct an intraspecific phylogeny of the widespread North American spotted salamander, Ambystoma maculatum , and test whether phylogenetic patterns conform to regional biogeographical hypotheses about the origins of diversity in eastern North America. Specifically, we address the number and locations of historical refugia, the extent and patterns of postglacial colonization by divergent lineages, and the origin and affinities of populations in the Interior Highland region. Despite apparent morphological uniformity, genetic discontinuities throughout the range of this species suggest that populations were historically fragmented in at least two refugia in the southern Appalachian Mountains. The ranges of these two highly divergent clades expanded northward, resulting in two widely distributed lineages that are sympatric in regions previously proposed as suture zones for other taxa. The evolutionary history of spotted salamander populations underscores the generality of biogeographical processes in eastern North America: despite differences in population size, glacial refugia, and vagility, similar signatures of differentiation are evident among and within widespread taxa.     

Timing the Eastern Asian–Eastern North American Floristic Disjunction: Molecular Clock Corroborates Paleontological Estimates

Sequence data of the chloroplast gene rbcL were used to estimate the time of the well-known eastern Asian–eastern North American floristic disjunction. Sequence divergence of rbcL was examined for 22 species of 11 genera (Campsis, Caulophyllum, Cornus, Decumaria, Liriodendron, Menispermum, Mitchella, Pachysandra, Penthorum, Podophyllum, and Phryma) representing a diverse array of flowering plants occurring disjunctly in eastern Asia and eastern North America. Divergence times of putative disjunct species pairs were estimated from synonymous substitutions, using rbcL molecular clocks calibrated for Cornus. Relative rate tests were performed to assess rate constancy of rbcL evolution among lineages. Corrections of estimates of divergence times for each species pair were made based on rate differences of rbcL between Cornus and other species pairs. Results of these analyses indicate that the time of divergence of species pairs examined ranges from 12.56 ± 4.30 million years to recent (<0.31 million years), with most within the last 10 million years (in the late Miocene and Pliocene). These results suggest that the isolation of most morphologically similar disjunct species in eastern Asia and eastern North America occurred during the global climatic cooling period that took place throughout the late Tertiary and Quaternary. This estimate is closely correlated with paleontological evidence and in agreement with the hypothesis that considers the eastern Asian–eastern North American floristic disjunction to be the result of the range restriction of a once more or less continuously distributed mixed mesophytic forest of the Northern Hemisphere that occurred during the late Tertiary and Quaternary. This implies that in most taxa the disjunction may have resulted from vicariance events. However, long-distance dispersal may explain the disjunct distribution of taxa with low divergence, such as Menispermum.     

Functional Resilience against Climate-Driven Extinctions – Comparing the Functional Diversity of European and North American Tree Floras

Future global change scenarios predict a dramatic loss of biodiversity for many regions in the world, potentially reducing the resistance and resilience of ecosystem functions. Once before, during Plio-Pleistocene glaciations, harsher climatic conditions in Europe as compared to North America led to a more depauperate tree flora. Here we hypothesize that this climate driven species loss has also reduced functional diversity in Europe as compared to North America. We used variation in 26 traits for 154 North American and 66 European tree species and grid-based co-occurrences derived from distribution maps to compare functional diversity patterns of the two continents. First, we identified similar regions with respect to contemporary climate in the temperate zone of North America and Europe. Second, we compared the functional diversity of both continents and for the climatically similar sub-regions using the functional dispersion-index (FDis) and the functional richness index (FRic). Third, we accounted in these comparisons for grid-scale differences in species richness, and, fourth, investigated the associated trait spaces using dimensionality reduction. For gymnosperms we find similar functional diversity on both continents, whereas for angiosperms functional diversity is significantly greater in Europe than in North America. These results are consistent across different scales, for climatically similar regions and considering species richness patterns. We decomposed these differences in trait space occupation into differences in functional diversity vs. differences in functional identity. We show that climate-driven species loss on a continental scale might be decoupled from or at least not linearly related to changes in functional diversity. This might be important when analyzing the effects of climate-driven biodiversity change on ecosystem functioning.     

Phylogenomics,biogeography, and evolution of the blue‐ or white‐fruited dogwoods (Cornus)—Insights into morphological and ecological niche divergence following intercontinental geographic isolation

The eastern Asian (EA)–eastern North American (ENA) floristic disjunction represents a major pattern of phytogeography of the Northern Hemisphere. Despite 20 years of studies dedicated to identification of taxa that display this disjunct pattern, its origin and evolution remain an open question, especially regarding post‐isolation evolution. The blue‐ or white‐fruited dogwoods (BW) are the most species‐rich among the four major clades of Cornus L., consisting of ~35 species divided into three subgenera (subg. Yinquania, subg. Mesomora, and subg. Kraniopsis). The BW group provides an excellent example of the EA–ENA floristic disjunction for biogeographic study due to its diversity distribution centered in eastern Asia and eastern North America, yet its species relationships and delineation have remained poorly understood. In this study, we combined genome‐wide markers from RAD‐seq, morphology, fossils, and climate data to understand species relationships, biogeographic history, and ecological niche and morphological evolution. Our phylogenomic analyses with RAxML and MrBayes recovered a strongly supported and well‐resolved phylogeny of the BW group with three intercontinental disjunct clades in EA and ENA or Eurasia and North America, of which two are newly identified within subg. Kraniopsis. These analyses also recovered a potential new species but failed to resolve relationships within the C. hemsleyi–C. schindleri complex. In an effort to develop an approach to reduce computation time, analysis of different nodal age settings in treePL suggests setting a node's minimum age constraint to the lower bound of a fossil's age range to obtain similar ages to that of BEAST. Divergence time analyses with BEAST and treePL dated the BW stem back to the very Late Cretaceous and the divergence of the three subgenera in the Paleogene. By integrating fossil ages and morphology, a total evidence‐based dating approach was used in conjunction with time‐slice probabilities of dispersal under a DEC model to resolve ancestral ranges of each disjunct in the Miocene: Eurasia and ENA (disjunct 1), EA and western North America (disjunct 2), and EA (disjunct 3). The dated biogeographic history supports dispersal via the North Atlantic Land Bridge in the late Paleogene in disjunct 1 and dispersal via the Bering Land Bridge in the Miocene for disjuncts 2 and 3. Character mapping with a stochastic model in phytools and comparison of ecological niche, morphospace, and rate of evolution indicated differential divergence patterns in morphology, ecological niche, and molecules between disjunct sisters. Although morphological stasis was observed in most of the characters, evolutionary changes in growth habit and some features of leaf, flower, and fruit morphology occurred in one or both sister clades. A significant differentiation of ecological habitats in temperature, precipitation, and elevation between disjunct sisters was observed, suggesting a role of niche divergence in morphological evolution post‐isolation. The patterns of evolutionary rate between morphology and molecules varied among disjunct clades and were not always congruent between morphology and molecules, suggesting cases of non‐neutral morphological evolution driven by ecological selection. Our phylogenetic evidence and comparisons of evolutionary rate among disjunct lineages lend new insights into the formation of the diversity anomaly between EA and ENA, with particular support of an early diversification in EA. These findings, in conjunction with previous studies, again suggest that the EA–ENA disjunct floras are an assembly of lineages descended from the Mesophytic Forests that evolved from the early Paleogene “boreotropical flora” through varied evolutionary pathways across lineages.     

中国西南与台湾地区维管植物的间断分布格局及形成机制

植物的间断分布格局及其形成机制是植物地理学研究的重要问题之一。本文在对中国大陆与台湾名录整理比较的基础上,对中国西南与台湾地区的植物间断分布格局及形成机制进行了分析。结果表明,两地同种型间断分布的维管植物有198种(包括变种和亚种),隶属于56科129属,其中蕨类植物86种,裸子植物3种,双子叶植物56种,单子叶植物53种;两地异种型间断分布的维管植物有22属,隶属于15科,其中蕨类植物6属,裸子植物1属,双子叶植物7属,单子叶植物兰科8属。间断分布类群以草本植物为主,主要是蕨类和兰科植物。间断分布类群在台湾地区主要分布在中部到东北部,在大陆的分布主要集中在川东–鄂西地区、川西–滇西北地区–藏东南地区和滇东南–桂西–黔西南地区。在垂直高度上,海拔1,550–2,350m是间断分布类群最集中分布的海拔范围。我们推测中国西南与台湾地区的间断分布类群有3种来源:北半球温带、中国西南和热带亚洲来源。     

Longitudinal patterns of plant diversity in the North American boreal forest

Spatial patterns of plant diversity in the North American boreal forest were examined according to three plant life forms (woody plants, herbaceous plants, and bryophytes) and two taxonomic levels (species and genus), using sixty 9-ha plots sampled in white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) and black spruce (Picea mariana (P. Mill.) B.S.P.) ecosystems along a transcontinental transect from the Pacific coast eastwards to the Atlantic coast. The patterns of inventory diversity (represented by alpha diversity), differentiation diversity (represented by the similarity index, habitat-heterogeneity index, similarity decay rate, and length of the first axis in detrended correspondence analysis), and pattern diversity (represented by the mosaic diversity index) were assessed along the transect in both ecosystem types. At the stand level, central North America had the highest alpha diversity in terms of the number of species or genera, and western North America had a higher alpha diversity than eastern North America. At the continental scale, herbaceous plants had the highest beta diversity in terms of floristic change from the eastern to western North America, bryophytes had the lowest beta diversity, and woody plants were in the middle, regardless of ecosystem type and taxonomic level. Central North America had the lowest mosaic diversity across the boreal transect of North America. The white spruce ecosystems had a higher alpha diversity than the black spruce ecosystems regardless of plant life form, taxonomic level and geographic location. The white spruce ecosystems tended to have more bryophytes, less woody plants, and higher species:genus ratio than the black spruce ecosystems. In general, the white spruce and black spruce ecosystems shared the same patterns in diversity changes at different spatial scales, plant life forms, and taxonomic levels across the transect studied. The existing patterns of plant diversity in the North American boreal forest area resulted from a combination of ecological processes and spatial configuration.