Article
Ecology
Laura A. Nunes, Christopher J. Raxworthy, Richard G. Pearson
Summary: The study demonstrates that biogeographic and ecological processes play crucial roles in driving speciation, rather than solely relying on geographic isolation. Strong bimodal peaks along a niche divergence-conservation spectrum were observed, with most sister pairs exhibiting either niche conservation or divergence.
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Michael Landis, Erika J. Edwards, Michael J. Donoghue
Summary: The spatial distribution of biomes has changed considerably over time, affecting the opportunities for evolutionary lineages to shift between different biomes. A phylogenetic biome shift model was developed to study how lineages shift between biomes and regions, with results suggesting a warm temperate or tropical origin for a specific plant genus. The model highlights the importance of considering dynamic geographical opportunities in inferring ancestral biomes compatible with Earth's history.
SYSTEMATIC BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Zoology
Fangyuan Yu, Yiwen Sun, Tiejun Wang, Andrew K. Skidmore, Changqing Ding, Xinping Ye
Summary: The study integrated ecological niche dynamics into the species distribution modeling of the Asian crested ibis in East Asia. The research found that the crested ibis retained similar ecological niches over time.
The current suitable habitat for crested ibis has decreased by 39.6% compared to historical range, with human activity having a greater impact than climate change on their distribution. Future potentially suitable habitat may shift northeastward and northwestward, possibly expanding by 18.7% compared to historical range.
INTEGRATIVE ZOOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Biodiversity Conservation
Hai Ngoc Ngo, Dennis Roedder, Lee Grismer, Truong Quang Nguyen, Minh Duc Le, Shuo Qi, Thomas Ziegler
Summary: Based on phylogenetic analyses, the first divergence date of Goniurosaurus was estimated to be in the Eocene (approximately 45.3 million years ago). Diversification within four monophyletic species groups began in the mid-Miocene (approximately 13.4 to 7.7 million years ago) and continued until at least the early Pleistocene (approximately 2 million years ago). The ancestral regions of each monophyletic Goniurosaurus species group were predicted to be contiguous continental Eastern Asia. The assessments of their niche evolution can provide insights into vulnerability to climate change and improve conservation measures for Goniurosaurus species in the future.
BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Jillian Schat, Yi-Ming Weng, Roman Yu Dudko, David H. Kavanaugh, Lan Luo, Sean D. Schoville
Summary: Limited evidence of ecological selection on functional traits was found. Instead, reproductive and genetic divergence evolved among isolated populations in both species complexes, suggesting niche conservatism may be a common outcome in alpine species diversification.
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Esther E. Dale, Matthew J. Larcombe, William G. Lee
Summary: Studies have shown that using a single-biome-per-species approach results in significantly lower biome shift rates, impacting the assessment of biome conservatism. In New Zealand plant lineages, estimated biome shifts were also significantly lower when analysed under the assumption of a single biome per species. It is suggested that analyses allowing species to occupy multiple biomes may provide a more accurate assessment of biome shift rates and biome conservatism testing.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Adrian Garcia-Rodriguez, Bernd Lenzner, Clara Marino, Chunlong Liu, Julian A. Velasco, Celine Bellard, Jonathan M. Jeschke, Hanno Seebens, Franz Essl
Summary: Shifts between native and alien climatic niches pose challenges for predicting biological invasions, especially for insular species. This study analyzed alien occurrences of endemic insular amphibians, reptiles, and birds and found that climatic mismatches were common in invasions of birds and reptiles, but less common in amphibians. Several predictors were identified for climatic mismatches, which varied among taxonomic groups.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Carmen Benitez-Benitez, Ana Otero, Kerry A. Ford, Pablo Garcia-Moro, Sabina Donadio, Modesto Luceno, Santiago Martin-Bravo, Pedro Jimenez-Mejias
Summary: Carex subgenus Psyllophorae is a fascinating study group with early diversification and disjunct distribution, showing the role of historical geo-climatic events in evolutionary history, particularly in South America. Divergence away from primary Gondwanan vicariance hypotheses and long-distance dispersal-mediated allopatric diversification are key aspects of the group's evolution. The trans-Pacific colonization event and niche conservatism in section Junciformes are also noteworthy findings.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Joanne M. Bennett, Jennifer Sunday, Piero Calosi, Fabricio Villalobos, Brezo Martinez, Rafael Molina-Venegas, Miguel B. Araujo, Adam C. Algar, Susana Clusella-Trullas, Bradford A. Hawkins, Sally A. Keith, Ingolf Kuehn, Carsten Rahbek, Laura Rodriguez, Alexander Singer, Ignacio Morales-Castilla, Miguel Angel Olalla-Tarraga
Summary: Understanding the evolution of species' thermal limits across the tree of life is crucial for predicting responses to climate change. Research suggests that most variation in thermal tolerance is due to adaptation to current climatic extremes and the existence of evolutionary ‘attractors’. Cold tolerance has evolved more rapidly than heat tolerance, and historical climate legacies play an important role in ectotherms.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Marcelo R. Rosas, Ricardo A. Segovia, Pablo C. Guerrero
Summary: Through comparing the species in South America and North America, we found that the distribution of the South American Astereae genus Haplopappus is influenced by climatic niche conservatism. There is a non-random distribution of species richness in central Chile, with endemic zones and transitional zones.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Rodrigo A. Moreno, Fabio A. Labra, Darko D. Cotoras, Patricio A. Camus, Dimitri Gutierrez, Luis Aguirre, Nicolas Rozbaczylo, Elie Poulin, Nelson A. Lagos, Daniel Zamorano, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira
Summary: The study found that there is a rare hump-shaped latitudinal diversity gradient among marine organisms along the Southeastern Pacific coast, with species richness peaking at around 42 degrees south and declining towards the northern and southern areas. There is a significant increase in phylogenetic conservatism and species richness towards the southern region, while pairwise distance variation shows the opposite trend. This suggests that evolutionary processes play a major role in shaping the latitudinal diversity gradient in this region.
Article
Biology
Oriol Lapiedra, Ferran Sayol, Joan Garcia-Porta, Daniel Sol
Summary: This study examines how ecological niche shifts on islands shaped biological diversification on continents, using the evolutionary radiation of Columbiformes. It found that colonization of islands by continental, terrestrial-foraging lineages led to the exploitation of a new ecological niche, associated with new morphological adaptations and increased speciation rates on islands. Results challenge the view of islands as mere sinks of evolutionary diversity and highlight the importance of studying diversification processes on islands for a full understanding of diversification on continents.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Pablo Fernando Cuervo, Fernando Sebastian Flores, Jose Manuel Venzal, Santiago Nava
Summary: This study investigated the ecological niches of the Amblyomma maculatum group of ticks, revealing evidence of niche differentiation among closely related taxa leading to geographical variation. It suggests niche conservatism for some pairs traditionally associated with allopatric speciation, while incipient niche divergence is observed in other comparisons, supporting the hypothesis of habitat conditions driving tick evolution.
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Severin Biaou, Gerard Nounagnon Gouwakinnou, Florent Noulekoun, Kolawole Valere Salako, Jesugnon Marie Reine Houndjo Kpoviwanou, Thierry Dehouegnon Houehanou, Honore Samadori Sorotori Biaou
Summary: Climate change is expected to have an impact on species distribution globally. The current evaluation methods assume that species respond uniformly to environmental changes along their distribution range, but populations occupying different niches may respond differently due to local adaptation. Therefore, incorporating intraspecific variation into species distribution models can result in more reliable predictions.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Danfeng Li, Yanjun Du, Wubing Xu, Danxiao Peng, Richard Primack, Guoke Chen, Ling Feng Mao, Keping Ma
Summary: The study found that phylogenetic signals in FDT increased with elevation and latitude. Pagel's lambda of FDT was negatively correlated with clade age but positively correlated with NRI. The primary variable affecting the phylogenetic signal of FDT for herbaceous species was precipitation in the wettest quarter.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Berit Gehrke, Martha Kandziora, Michael D. Pirie
Article
Plant Sciences
Martha Kandziora, Joachim W. Kadereit, Berit Gehrke
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY
(2016)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
M. D. Pirie, E. G. H. Oliver, A. Mugrabi de Kuppler, B. Gehrke, N. C. Le Maitre, M. Kandziora, D. U. Bellstedt
BMC EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
(2016)
Article
Ecology
Martha Kandziora, Joachim W. Kadereit, Berit Gehrke
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2017)
Article
Plant Sciences
Kasey K. Pham, Marlene Hahn, Kate Lueders, Bethany H. Brown, Leo P. Bruederle, Jeremy J. Bruhl, Kyong-Sook Chung, Nathan J. Derieg, Marcial Escudero, Bruce A. Ford, Sebastian Gebauer, Berit Gehrke, Matthias H. Hoffmann, Takuji Hoshino, Pedro Jimenez-Mejias, Jongduk Jung, Sangtae Kim, Modesto Luceno, Enrique Maguilla, Santiago Martin-Bravo, Robert F. C. Naczi, Anton A. Reznicek, Eric H. Roalson, David A. Simpson, Julian R. Starr, Tamara Villaverde, Marcia J. Waterway, Karen L. Wilson, Okihito Yano, Shuren Zhang, Andrew L. Hipp
Article
Plant Sciences
T. Villaverde, E. Maguilla, M. Escudero, J. I. Marquez-Corro, P. Jimenez-Mejias, B. Gehrke, S. Martin-Bravo, M. Luceno
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PLANT SCIENCES
(2017)
Article
Ecology
Monica Miguez, Berit Gehrke, Enrique Maguilla, Pedro Jimenez-Mejias, Santiago Martin-Bravo
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2017)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Inderpreet Kaur, Imke Hueser, Tianran Zhang, Berit Gehrke, Johannes W. Kaiser
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Michael D. Pirie, Martha Kandziora, Nicolai M. Nuerk, Nicholas C. Le Maitre, Ana Mugrabi de Kuppler, Berit Gehrke, Edward G. H. Oliver, Dirk U. Bellstedt
BMC EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
(2019)
Article
Plant Sciences
Eric H. Roalson, Pedro Jimenez-Mejias, Andrew L. Hipp, Carmen Benitez-Benitez, Leo P. Bruederle, Kyong-Sook Chung, Marcial Escudero, Bruce A. Ford, Kerry Ford, Sebastian Gebauer, Berit Gehrke, Marlene Hahn, Muhammad Qasim Hayat, Mathias H. Hoffmann, Xiao-Feng Jin, Sangtae Kim, Isabel Larridon, Etienne Leveille-Bourret, Yi-Fei Lu, Modesto Luceno, Enrique Maguilla, Jose Ignacio Marquez-Corro, Santiago Martin-Bravo, Tomomi Masaki, Monica Miguez, Robert F. C. Naczi, Anton A. Reznicek, Daniel Spalink, Julian R. Starr, Uzma, Tamara Villaverde, Marcia J. Waterway, Karen L. Wilson, Shu-Ren Zhang
Summary: Phylogenetic studies of Carex L. have shown that most subgenera and sections are para- or polyphyletic, yet taxonomists continue to use them for classification. The Global Carex Group argues that the historical and continued use of subgenera and sections helps organize lineages, create identification mechanisms, and recognize morphologically diagnosable lineages. While a global reclassification based on phylogenetic relationships is not yet possible, an intermediate step of implementing revised subgenera and using a combination of informally named clades and formally named sections has been taken to reflect current knowledge.
JOURNAL OF SYSTEMATICS AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Diego F. Morales-Briones, Berit Gehrke, Chien-Hsun Huang, Aaron Liston, Hong Ma, Hannah E. Marx, David C. Tank, Ya Yang
Summary: Target enrichment is increasingly used in phylogenomic studies. Paralogs are often recovered in data sets, and processing them can be prone to errors. Automated tree-based orthology inference methods can help study complex scenarios of polyploidy and reticulate evolution.
SYSTEMATIC BIOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Plant Sciences
Christian Brochmann, Abel Gizaw, Desalegn Chala, Martha Kandziora, Gerald Eilu, Magnus Popp, Michael D. Pirie, Berit Gehrke
Summary: Olov Hedberg's work on the tropical alpine flora of the African sky islands has provided valuable insights. Recent studies suggest that colonization of the afroalpine habitat was dominated by long-distance dispersals, resulting in a rich flora of local endemics. The flora was shaped by strong intermountain isolation rather than ecological connectivity, and genetic data indicate a unique but fragile diversity that is vulnerable to extinction due to climate warming and human impact.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Martha Kandziora, Berit Gehrke, Magnus Popp, Abel Gizaw, Christian Brochmann, Michael D. Pirie
Summary: The colonization and diversification history of the afroalpine flora in Africa, which is highly endemic but species-poor, has been studied using phylogenetic relationships and molecular dating methods. Most lineages appear to have colonized the afroalpine during the last 5 or 10 million years, and the accumulation of species has increased exponentially toward the present. This study contributes to our understanding of the colonization processes on different tropical sky islands and provides insights into the shaping of their remarkable floras.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
M. D. Pirie, E. G. H. Oliver, B. Gehrke, L. Heringer, A. Mugrabi De Kuppler, N. C. Le Maitre, D. U. Bellstedt
BOTANICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY
(2017)