Riders in the sky (islands): using a mega-phylogenetic approach to understand plant species distribution and coexistence at the altitudinal limits of angiosperm plant life.

ABSTRACT:

Aim

Plants occurring on high-alpine summits are generally expected to persist due to adaptations to extreme selective forces caused by the harshest climates where angiosperm life is known to thrive. We assessed the relative effects of this strong environmental filter and of other historical and stochastic factors driving plant community structure in very high-alpine conditions (up to 4,000m).

Location

European Alps, Écrins National Park, France.

Methods

Using species occurrence data collected from floristic surveys on 15 summits (2,791 m - 4,102 m a.s.l.) throughout the Écrins range, along with existing molecular sequence data obtained from GenBank, we used a mega-phylogenetic approach to evaluate the phylogenetic structure of high-alpine plant species assemblages. We

SUBMITTER: Marx HE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5730081 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature