Niche evolution through time and across continents: The story of Neotropical Cedrela (Meliaceae).

Koecke, A. Valerie; Muellner‐Riehl, Alexandra N.; Pennington, Terence D.; Schorr, Gertrud; Schnitzler, Jan

Niche evolution through time and across continents: The story of Neotropical Cedrela (Meliaceae).

Resource type

Journal article

Creator (person)

Koecke, A. Valerie

Muellner‐Riehl, Alexandra N.

ORCID

Pennington, Terence D.

Schorr, Gertrud

Schnitzler, Jan

ORCID

Date published

September 1, 2013

Abstract

• Climatic and geological changes have been considered as major drivers of biological diversification. However, it has been generally assumed that lineages retain common environmental affinities, suggesting a limited capacity to switch their climatic niche. We tested this assumption with a study of the evolution of climatic niches in the Neotropical tree genus (Meliaceae). • We combined distribution models of extant with a dated molecular phylogeny based on one nuclear (ITS) and three plastid markers ( ‐ , and ) to reconstruct the evolutionary dynamics of climatic niches. We calculated relative disparity of climatic tolerances over time to test for niche evolution within subclades or divergence between subclades and conservatism among closely related groups. Published fossil records and studies on paleosols were evaluated for the distribution and climatic conditions of extinct . • The fossil record of suggested a major biome shift from paratropical conditions into warm‐temperate seasonal climates in the Early Oligocene of western North America. In the Miocene, extended from North America (John Day Formation, Oregon, USA) to southern Central America (Gatún, Panama). Diversification in the early evolutionary history was mainly driven by changes in precipitation. Temperature had an increasing impact on ecological diversification of the genus from the Miocene onwards. Sister‐species comparisons revealed that recent speciation events may be related to divergence of climatic tolerances. • Our study highlights the complexity of climatic niche dynamics, and shows how conservatism and evolution have acted on different temporal scales and climatic parameters in .

Funder

Funder name	Awards
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Germany	Grant no. MU 2934/1-1)
LOEWE − Landes-Offensive zur Entwicklung Wissenschaftlich-ökonomischer Exzellenz”, Germany	Research Funding Program