Recent assembly of the Cerrado, a neotropical plant diversity hotspot, by in situ evolution of adaptations to fire.

ABSTRACT: The relative importance of local ecological and larger-scale historical processes in causing differences in species richness across the globe remains keenly debated. To gain insight into these questions, we investigated the assembly of plant diversity in the Cerrado in South America, the world's most species-rich tropical savanna. Time-calibrated phylogenies suggest that Cerrado lineages started to diversify less than 10 Mya, with most lineages diversifying at 4 Mya or less, coinciding with the rise to dominance of flammable C4 grasses and expansion of the savanna biome worldwide. These plant phylogenies show that Cerrado lineages are strongly associated with adaptations to fire and have sister groups in largely fire-free nearby wet forest, seasonally dry forest, subtropical grassland, or

SUBMITTER: Simon MF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2787167 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature