Do Centres of Endemism provide a spatial context for predicting and preserving plant phylogeographic patterns in the Cape Floristic Region, South Africa?

ABSTRACT:

Aim

The evolutionary forces that gave rise to the exceptional plant species richness of the Cape Floristic Region (CFR) have also likely played a role at the intraspecific level (i.e. plant populations)-and thereby generating shared phylogeographic patterns among taxa. Here we test whether plant populations in the CFR exhibit phylogeographic breaks across the boundaries between Centres of Endemism (CoEs). The boundaries between CoEs (derived from the distribution ranges of endemic taxa and currently mapped at a coarse, Quarter Degree Square scale) represent a spatial proxy for the evolutionary diversifying drivers acting on plant taxa in the CFR.

Location

The CFR, located along the southern Cape of South Africa.

Methods

Published phylogeographic literature were compil

SUBMITTER: Galuszynski NC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7519721 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature