The Role of Immigrants in the Assembly of the South American Rainforest Tree Flora

Overview

Journal Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci

Specialty Biology

Date 2004 Nov 3

PMID 15519976

Citations 25

Authors

R Toby Pennington

Christopher W Dick

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The Amazon lowland rainforest flora is conventionally viewed as comprising lineages that evolved in biogeographic isolation after the split of west Gondwana (ca. 100 Myr ago). Recent molecular phylogenies, however, identify immigrant lineages that arrived in South America during its period of oceanic isolation (ca. 100-3 Myr ago). Long-distance sweepstakes dispersal across oceans played an important and possibly predominant role. Stepping-stone migration from Africa and North America through hypothesized Late Cretaceous and Tertiary island chains may have facilitated immigration. An analysis of inventory plot data suggests that immigrant lineages comprise ca. 20% of both the species and individuals of an Amazon tree community in Ecuador. This is more than an order of magnitude higher than previous estimates. We also present data on the community-level similarity between South American and palaeotropical rainforests, and suggest that most taxonomic similarity derives from trans-oceanic dispersal, rather than a shared Gondwanan history.

Citing Articles

Dispersal from Africa to the Neotropics was followed by multiple transitions across Neotropical biomes facilitated by frugivores.

Lopes J, Fonseca L, Johnson D, Luebert F, Murray N, Nge F Ann Bot. 2023; 133(5-6):659-676.

PMID: 37968940 PMC: 11082516. DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcad175.

A comprehensive genus-level phylogeny and biogeographical history of the Lythraceae based on whole plastome sequences.

Inglis P, Cavalcanti T, Facco M, Bakker F, Graham S Ann Bot. 2023; 132(2):293-318.

PMID: 37439499 PMC: 10583215. DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcad091.

Cryptic species diversity in a widespread neotropical tree genus: The case of Cedrela odorata.

Finch K, Jones F, Cronn R Am J Bot. 2022; 109(10):1622-1640.

PMID: 36098061 PMC: 9827871. DOI: 10.1002/ajb2.16064.

Biogeographic history of a large clade of ectomycorrhizal fungi, the Russulaceae, in the Neotropics and adjacent regions.

Hackel J, Henkel T, Moreau P, De Crop E, Verbeken A, Sa M New Phytol. 2022; 236(2):698-713.

PMID: 35811430 PMC: 9795906. DOI: 10.1111/nph.18365.

Dissecting the difference in tree species richness between Africa and South America.

Silva de Miranda P, Dexter K, Swaine M, de Oliveira-Filho A, Hardy O, Fayolle A Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022; 119(14):e2112336119.

PMID: 35349336 PMC: 9168492. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2112336119.

References

Zeh J, Zeh D, Bonilla M . Phylogeography of the harlequin beetle-riding pseudoscorpion and the rise of the Isthmus of Panamá. Mol Ecol. 2003; 12(10):2759-69. DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-294x.2003.01914.x. View

Davis C, Bell C, Mathews S, Donoghue M . Laurasian migration explains Gondwanan disjunctions: evidence from Malpighiaceae. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002; 99(10):6833-7. PMC: 124489. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.102175899. View

Baker W, Hedderson T, Dransfield J . Molecular phylogenetics of subfamily Calamoideae (Palmae) based on nrDNA ITS and cpDNA rps16 intron sequence data. Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2000; 14(2):195-217. DOI: 10.1006/mpev.1999.0696. View

Richardson J, Chatrou L, Mols J, Erkens R, Pirie M . Historical biogeography of two cosmopolitan families of flowering plants: Annonaceae and Rhamnaceae. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2004; 359(1450):1495-508. PMC: 1693429. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2004.1537. View

Bremer K . Early Cretaceous lineages of monocot flowering plants. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2000; 97(9):4707-11. PMC: 18297. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.080421597. View

Fritsch P . Phylogeny and biogeography of the flowering plant genus Styrax (Styracaceae) based on chloroplast DNA restriction sites and DNA sequences of the internal transcribed spacer region. Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2001; 19(3):387-408. DOI: 10.1006/mpev.2001.0933. View

Magallon S, Sanderson M . Absolute diversification rates in angiosperm clades. Evolution. 2001; 55(9):1762-80. DOI: 10.1111/j.0014-3820.2001.tb00826.x. View

Weiblen G . Phylogenetic relationships of functionally dioecious FICUS (Moraceae) based on ribosomal DNA sequences and morphology. Am J Bot. 2000; 87(9):1342-57. View

Dick C, Abdul-Salim K, Bermingham E . Molecular systematic analysis reveals cryptic tertiary diversification of a widespread tropical rain forest tree. Am Nat. 2004; 162(6):691-703. DOI: 10.1086/379795. View

10.

Wikstrom N, Savolainen V, Chase M . Evolution of the angiosperms: calibrating the family tree. Proc Biol Sci. 2001; 268(1482):2211-20. PMC: 1088868. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2001.1782. View

11.

Asmussen C, Chase M . Coding and noncoding plastid DNA in palm systematics. Am J Bot. 2001; 88(6):1103-17. View

12.

Lavin M, Schrire B, Lewis G, Pennington R, Delgado-Salinas A, Thulin M . Metacommunity process rather than continental tectonic history better explains geographically structured phylogenies in legumes. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2004; 359(1450):1509-22. PMC: 1693434. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2004.1536. View

13.

Renner S, Clausing G, Meyer K . Historical biogeography of Melastomataceae: the roles of Tertiary migration and long-distance dispersal. Am J Bot. 2001; 88(7):1290-300. View

14.

Bermingham E, Martin A . Comparative mtDNA phylogeography of neotropical freshwater fishes: testing shared history to infer the evolutionary landscape of lower Central America. Mol Ecol. 1998; 7(4):499-517. DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-294x.1998.00358.x. View

15.

Burnham R, Johnson K . South American palaeobotany and the origins of neotropical rainforests. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2004; 359(1450):1595-610. PMC: 1693437. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2004.1531. View

16.

Chaw S, Chang C, Chen H, Li W . Dating the monocot-dicot divergence and the origin of core eudicots using whole chloroplast genomes. J Mol Evol. 2004; 58(4):424-41. DOI: 10.1007/s00239-003-2564-9. View