Rapid plant diversification in the Andes does not require flowers

Abstract

This article is a Commentary on Testo et al., 222: 604–613.

Quantum dots shed light on angiosperm speciation

“…Thus the oft‐cited pattern that hummingbird pollination correlates with increased diversity may, in fact, represent an incidental side effect of diversification driven by recent orogenesis and the many opportunities for allopatric speciation that mountains provide (Schmidt‐Lebuhn et al ., ). In fact, the Andean uplift also greatly amplified lycophyte diversification rates (Testo et al ., ), which of course do not have flowers for pollinators to interact with (Lagomarsino, ). Furthermore, even distantly related taxa, long past the point of being able to exchange genes, will still undergo floral character displacement when they occur in sympatry because this reduces the costs of interspecific pollen transfer and competition for pollinators (Moreira‐Hernández & Muchhala, ).…”