Timing and ecological priority shaped the diversification of sedges in the Himalayas.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Diversification patterns in the Himalayas have been important to our understanding of global biodiversity. Despite recent broad-scale studies, the most diverse angiosperm genus of the temperate zone-Carex L. (Cyperaceae), with ca. 2100 species worldwide-has not yet been studied in the Himalayas, which contains 189 Carex species. Here the timing and phylogenetic pattern of lineage and ecological diversification were inferred in this ecologically significant genus. We particularly investigated whether priority, adaptation to ecological conditions, or both explain the highly successful radiation of the Kobresia clade (ca. 60 species, of which around 40 are present in the Himalayas) of Himalayan Carex.

Methods

Phylogenetic relationships were infer

SUBMITTER: Uzma 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6557248 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature