Island radiation on a continental scale: Exceptional rates of plant diversification after uplift of the Andes

Species radiations provide unique insights into evolutionary processes underlying species diversification and patterns of biodiversity. To compare plant diversification over a similar time period to the recent cichlid fish radiations, which are an order of magnitude faster than documented bird, arthropod, and plant radiations, we focus on the high-altitude flora of the Andes, which is the most species-rich of any tropical mountains. Because of the recent uplift of the northern Andes, the upland environments where much of this rich endemic flora is found have been available for colonization only since the late Pliocene or Pleistocene, 2-4 million years (Myr) ago. Using DNA sequence data we identify a…

• SS
  Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust
• NM
  New Mexico State University
• RS
  Royal Society
• UF
  Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
• DF
  Directorate for Biological Sciences