Evolution of leaf form correlates with tropical-temperate transitions in Viburnum (Adoxaceae) |
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Authors: | Samuel B Schmerler Wendy L Clement Jeremy M Beaulieu David S Chatelet Lawren Sack Michael J Donoghue Erika J Edwards |
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Institution: | Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, , Box G-W, 80 Waterman St., Providence, RI 02912, USA, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, , PO Box 208106, New Haven, CT 06520-8106, USA, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California at Los Angeles, , Los Angeles, CA, USA. |
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Abstract: | Strong latitudinal patterns in leaf form are well documented in floristic comparisons and palaeobotanical studies. However, there is little agreement about their functional significance; in fact, it is still unknown to what degree these patterns were generated by repeated evolutionary adaptation. We analysed leaf form in the woody angiosperm clade Viburnum (Adoxaceae) and document evolutionarily correlated shifts in leafing habit, leaf margin morphology, leaf shape and climate. Multiple independent shifts between tropical and temperate forest habitats have repeatedly been accompanied by a change between evergreen, elliptical leaves with entire margins and deciduous, more rounded leaves with toothed or lobed margins. These consistent shifts in Viburnum support repeated evolutionary adaptation as a major determinant of the global correlation between leaf form and mean annual temperature. Our results provide a new theoretical grounding for the inference of past climates using fossil leaf assemblages. |
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Keywords: | leaf margin analysis leaf teeth Viburnum leaf shape elliptical Fourier analysis biogeography |
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