Diversification patterns of the southwest Australian biodiversity hotspot reveal a novel macroevolutionary pathway to plant hyperdiversity.

ABSTRACT: The macroevolutionary drivers for disparities in plant species richness across Australia are understudied, hindered by lack of densely sampled comparative phylogenetic data. Here, we address this gap by analysing plant diversification dynamics and quantifying macroevolutionary trajectories of 22 plant clades (4289 species in 14 families) across two Australian regions. We show the southwest Australian (SWA) floristic region differs from southeastern Australia (SEA) in having relatively low speciation and extinction rates, fewer recent rapid radiations, declining speciation rates, relatively high rates of sympatric speciation indicative of greater niche space saturation, and an absence of mass extinction events since the Eocene. We show that low diversification rates in SWA can be attributed

SUBMITTER: Nge FJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12445814 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature