The megadiverse genus
This content will become publicly available on March 1, 2025
Here, for the first time using extensive phylogenetic sampling, we asked whether (1)
Our results point to the importance of heterogeneity in the diversification of
Our investigation shows the importance of phylogenetic and evolutionary studies of logistically challenging “mega‐radiations.” Our findings reject any simple key innovation behind high diversity and underline the often nuanced, multifactorial processes leading to species‐rich clades.
- Award ID(s):
- 2027654
- PAR ID:
- 10518755
- Publisher / Repository:
- NSF Public Access Repository (NSF-PAR)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- American Journal of Botany
- Volume:
- 111
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 0002-9122
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- abiotic Astragalus diversification edaphic Fabaceae legume mega‐genus species richness
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Taxon Rodents and shrews.
Methods The elevational distributions of 34 species were determined from comprehensive field surveys conducted in three arid, temperate mountain ranges. Elevation–diversity relationships and community assembly processes were inferred from phylogenetic (PD) and functional diversity (FD) patterns of mean pairwise and mean nearest‐neighbor distances while accounting for differences in species richness. FD indices were calculated separately for traits related to either abiotic filtering (β‐niche traits) or biotic interactions (α‐niche traits) to test explicit predictions of the role of each across elevation.
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Time period Recent to 30 million years ago.
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