Mountains as Evolutionary Arenas: Patterns, Emerging Approaches, Paradigm Shifts, and Their Implications for Plant Phylogeographic Research in the Tibeto-Himalayan Region.

ABSTRACT: Recently, the "mountain-geobiodiversity hypothesis" (MGH) was proposed as a key concept for explaining the high levels of biodiversity found in mountain systems of the Tibeto-Himalayan region (THR), which comprises the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, the Himalayas, and the biodiversity hotspot known as the "Mountains of Southwest China" (Hengduan Mountains region). In addition to the MGH, which covers the entire life span of a mountain system, a complementary concept, the so-called "flickering connectivity system" (FCS), was recently proposed for the period of the Quaternary. The FCS focuses on connectivity dynamics in alpine ecosystems caused by the drastic climatic changes during the past ca. 2.6 million years, emphasizing that range fragmentation and allopatric speciation are not the sole fact

SUBMITTER: Muellner-Riehl AN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6431670 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature