Dated Plant Phylogenies Resolve Neogene Climate and Landscape Evolution in the Cape Floristic Region.

ABSTRACT: In the context of molecularly-dated phylogenies, inferences informed by ancestral habitat reconstruction can yield valuable insights into the origins of biomes, palaeoenvironments and landforms. In this paper, we use dated phylogenies of 12 plant clades from the Cape Floristic Region (CFR) in southern Africa to test hypotheses of Neogene climatic and geomorphic evolution. Our combined dataset for the CFR strengthens and refines previous palaeoenvironmental reconstructions based on a sparse, mostly offshore fossil record. Our reconstructions show remarkable consistency across all 12 clades with regard to both the types of environments identified as ancestral, and the timing of shifts to alternative conditions. They reveal that Early Miocene land surfaces of the CFR were wetter than at prese

SUBMITTER: Hoffmann V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4589284 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature