The Sino-Himalayan flora evolved from lowland biomes dominated by tropical floristic elements.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The Sino-Himalayan flora harbors highly diverse high-elevation biotas, but our understanding of its evolutionary history in temporal and spatial dimensions is limited. In this study, we integrated a dated phylogenetic tree with comprehensive species distribution data to investigate changes over time and space in floristic elements, including the tropical, Tethys, northern temperate, and East Asian floristic elements, across the entire Sino-Himalaya and its three floristic regions: the Yunnan Plateau, Hengduan Mountains, and East Himalaya regions.

Results

Our results revealed that the Sino-Himalayan flora developed from lowland biomes and was predominantly characterized by tropical floristic elements before the collision between the Indian subcontinent and Eurasia

SUBMITTER: Liu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10617089 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature