Ancient orogenic and monsoon-driven assembly of the world’s richest temperate alpine flora
Chinese Academy of Sciences · Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden · +3 more institutions
Abstract
Understanding how alpine biotas formed in response to historical environmental change may improve our ability to predict and mitigate the threats to alpine species posed by global warming. In the world's richest temperate alpine flora, that of the Tibet-Himalaya-Hengduan region, phylogenetic reconstructions of biome and geographic range evolution show that extant lineages emerged by the early Oligocene and diversified first in the Hengduan Mountains. By the early to middle Miocene, accelerated diversification and colonization of adjacent regions were likely driven jointly by mountain building and intensification of the Asian monsoon. The alpine flora of the Hengduan Mountains has continuously existed far longer than…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 89.80
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 153
Authors
4- WDWenna Ding
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
- RHRichard H. ReeCorresponding
Field Museum of Natural History
- RARobert A. Spicer
Chinese Academy of Sciences, The Open University, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden
- YXYaowu XingCorresponding
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden
Topics & keywords
- Flora (microbiology)
- Temperate climate
- Orogeny
- Ecology
- Monsoon
- Alpine climate
- Paleontology
- Tectonics