Iriarteeae palms tracked the uplift of Andean Cordilleras

Abstract

Aim:The high biodiversity of northern South America is unparalleled and includes several centres of diversity such as Amazonia, the Andes and the Choc o. Movement of lineages amongst and within these bioregions is thought to be rare, and the effect of those dispersals on the distribution, diversity, and community assembly remains poorly understood. Here we address these effects by studying divergence times, biogeographical history, and species diversification of the palm tribe Iriarteeae, an ecologically dominant forest component.Location: Central and South America. Methods:We developed a calibrated phylogeny and a spatially explicit diversification model that incorporates molecular and fossil data. In these analyses, we included a new fossil Iriartea species Gemmamonocolpites galeanoana, derived from new samples of Miocene deposits in western Amazonia. We also estimated the geographical range evolution of lineages and tested whether speciation and extinction rates were affected by dispersal events using a simulation approach in ClaSSE. Results:Dispersal amongst bioregions was not evenly distributed across the topology. We found that Amazonian communities are overdispersed across the phylogeny, whereas Andean taxa are clustered. Dispersal events were associated with increases in species diversification and were concomitant with periods of Andean uplift. Migration into montane areas occurred several times from lowland Amazonian ancestors, and montane taxa subsequently recolonized the Amazonian bioregion. Main conclusions:Our results suggest that the diversification of Iriarteeae palms closely followed the west-to-east surface uplift history of the Northern Andes. From an early, lowland Amazonian ancestor, the first diversification events took place in the earliest emerging mountain chain, the Western Cordillera. From there multiple range expansions followed eastwards and back into the lowlands. This study demonstrates how geological events within a single mountain range can affect the geographical expansion and diversification of lineages.

Calling the Banners: exploring the complex biogeographical history of the Neotropical banner-wing damselflies (Odonata: Polythoridae)

“…Genera such as Stenocora Beyond physical isolation, are there other factors likely involved in the diversification in these groups during the Andean uplift? In groups such as plants, the changing conditions as elevational gradients develop have created ecotones along which species have diversified 8,17 . In butterflies, the changing range of host plants in response to gradients, and shifts to new hosts plants in parallel with these changes, have driven diversity 7,18 .…”

How important is it to consider lineage diversification heterogeneity in macroevolutionary studies? Lessons from the lizard family Liolaemidae

“…Even though models that do not include hidden states are not suitable for trees including groups with heterogeneous diversification patterns, they are still commonly applied in macroevolutionary studies without careful assessment. For instance, the Geographic State Speciation and Extinction model (GeoSSE; Goldberg et al, ) was recently used in biogeographic studies of lizards (Esquerré, Brennan, Catullo, Torres‐Pérez, & Keogh, ), tanagers and tortoises (Román‐Palacios & Wiens, ), plants (Canal et al, ), including palms (Bacon, Velásquez‐Puentes, Hoorn, & Antonelli, ) and oaks (Hipp et al, ), and a recent mega‐phylogeny of mushrooms (Varga et al, ). Given the above‐noted limitations of this model, these empirical cases should be revisited (e.g.…”

Niches and radiations: a case study on the Andean sapphire‐vented puffleg Eriocnemis luciani and coppery‐naped puffleg E. sapphiropygia (Aves, Trochilidae)

“…This high level of biodiversity has been correlated with the Andean uplift, a process that asynchronously affected the central Andes (Gregory-Wodzicki 2000, Garzione et al 2008, Lomize 2008. Therefore, emergent Andean biota also asynchronously arose (Bacon et al 2018, Escobar et al 2018, Salgado-Roa et al 2018) via nonexclusive pathways that include 1) climate/ habitat heterogeneity, followed by adaptive radiation in response to the newly formed montane environments; 2) biotic corridors for taxa able to survive under montane conditions that could increase their range; 3) ecological and/or geographical vicariance and 4) the occurrence of Andean-born lineages that dispersed and diversified in other Neotropical biomes (Simpson 1975, Hoorn et al 2010, Antonelli and Sanmartín 2011, Mutz et al 2018. Within this framework, two nonexclusive hypotheses can be tested by examining environmental niche changes that potentially fueled the diversification of Andean lineages: 1) niche 'adjustment', or the adaptation to newly available environments/climates, and 2) niche conservatism.…”