The biogeographic origin of a radiation of trees in Madagascar: implications for the assembly of a tropical forest biome.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Madagascar's rain forests are characterized by extreme and uneven patterns of species richness and endemicity, the biogeographic and evolutionary origins of which are poorly understood.

Methods

Here we use a time-calibrated phylogeny of a dominant group of trees in Madagascar's eastern rain forests, Canarium, and related Burseraceae (Canarieae), to test biogeographic hypotheses regarding the origin and radiation of the flora of this unique biome.

Results

Our findings strongly support the monophyly of Malagasy Canarium, suggesting that this clade represents a previously undocumented in situ radiation. Contrary to expectations of dispersal from Africa during the Oligocene, concurrent with the formation of Madagascar's rain forest biome, our analyses support a

SUBMITTER: Federman S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4594639 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature