Why are there so many plant species in the Neotropics?
The Neotropical region (tropical America) is the most species rich region on Earth. Several causes have been proposed to explain this extraordinary biodiversity, which may be very roughly classified into two major categories: 'biotic' (e.g. soil adaptations; biotic interactions with pollin...
| Autores: | , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión aceptada para publicación |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2011 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) |
| Repositorio: | DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:digital.csic.es:10261/167023 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/167023 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Biogeography Tropical America Neotropical biomes Evolution Botany |
| Sumario: | The Neotropical region (tropical America) is the most species rich region on Earth. Several causes have been proposed to explain this extraordinary biodiversity, which may be very roughly classified into two major categories: 'biotic' (e.g. soil adaptations; biotic interactions with pollinators, dispersers and herbivores; niche conservatism; dispersal ability) and 'abiotic' (e.g. time; rainfall, temperature and area; mountain uplift; hydrological changes). In this paper we review the evidence for each of these postulated causes of diversification and provide general directions towards further testing. We highlight the need of more well-sampled and dated phylogenies and urge increased inter-disciplinary collaboration. |
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