Environmental and evolutionary drivers of diversity patterns in the tea family (Theaceae s.s.) across China.

ABSTRACT: Subtropical forest is recognized as an important global vegetation type with high levels of plant species richness. However, the mechanisms underlying its diversity remain poorly understood. Here, we assessed the roles of environmental drivers and evolutionary dynamics (time-for-speciation and diversification rate) in shaping species richness patterns across China for a major subtropical plant group, the tea family (Theaceae s.s.) (145 species), at several taxonomic scales. To this end, we assessed the relationships between species richness, key environmental variables (minimum temperature of the coldest month, mean annual precipitation, soil pH), and phylogenetic assemblage structure (net related index) by using non-spatial and spatial linear models. We found that species richness is sign

SUBMITTER: Rao M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6303774 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature