Hybridization in palms (Arecaceae).

Hybridization has significant evolutionary consequences across the Tree of Life. The process of hybridization has played a major role in plant evolution and has contributed to species richness and trait variation. Since morphological traits are partially a product of their environment, there may be a link between hybridization and ecology.

Rethinking pathways to the dioecy-polyploidy association: Genera with many dioecious species have fewer polyploids.

Premise: Numerous studies have found a positive association between dioecy and polyploidy; however, this association presents a theoretical conflict: While polyploids are predicted to benefit from self-reproduction for successful establishment, dioecious species cannot self-reproduce. We propose a theoretical framework to resolve this apparent conflict. We hypothesize that the inability of dioecious species to self-reproduce hinders their establishment as polyploids.

Madagascar's extraordinary biodiversity: Threats and opportunities.

Madagascar's unique biota is heavily affected by human activity and is under intense threat. Here, we review the current state of knowledge on the conservation status of Madagascar's terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity by presenting data and analyses on documented and predicted species-level conservation statuses, the most prevalent and relevant threats, ex situ collections and programs, and the coverage and comprehensiveness of protected areas. The existing terrestrial protected area network in Madagascar covers 10.

The origin of modern patterns of continental diversity in Mauritiinae palms: the Neotropical museum and the Afrotropical graveyard.

While the latitudinal diversity gradient has received much attention, biodiversity and species richness also vary between continents across similar latitudes. Fossil information can be used to understand the evolutionary mechanisms that generated such variation between continents of similar latitudes. We integrated fossil data into a phylogenetic analysis of the Mauritiinae palms, whose extant diversity is restricted to the Neotropics, but extended across Africa and India during most of the Cenozoic.

Limited decadal growth of mountain birch saplings has minor impact on surrounding tundra vegetation.

Temperatures over the Arctic region are increasing at three times the rate of the global average. Consequently, Arctic vegetation is changing and trees are encroaching into the tundra. In this study, we examine the establishment and growth of mountain birch ( ssp.

Community voices: sowing, germinating, flourishing as strategies to support inclusion in STEM.

Understanding gaps in academic representation while considering the intersectionality concept is paramount to promoting real progress towards a more inclusive STEM. Here we discuss ways in which STEM careers can be sown and germinated so that inclusivity can flourish.

Target sequence capture of Barnadesioideae (Compositae) demonstrates the utility of low coverage loci in phylogenomic analyses.

Target sequence capture has emerged as a powerful method to sequence hundreds or thousands of genomic regions in a cost- and time-efficient approach. In most cases, however, targeted regions lack full sequence information for certain samples, due to taxonomic, laboratory, or stochastic factors. Loci lacking molecular data for a large number of samples are commonly excluded from downstream analyses, even though they may still contain valuable information.

A bioinformatic platform to integrate target capture and whole genome sequences of various read depths for phylogenomics.

The increasing availability of short-read whole genome sequencing (WGS) provides unprecedented opportunities to study ecological and evolutionary processes. Although loci of interest can be extracted from WGS data and combined with target sequence data, this requires suitable bioinformatic workflows. Here, we test different assembly and locus extraction strategies and implement them into secapr, a pipeline that processes short-read data into multilocus alignments for phylogenetics and molecular ecology analyses.

Biogeographic origins of southern African Silene (Caryophyllaceae).

Silene (Caryophyllaceae) is distributed predominantly in the northern Hemisphere, where it is most diverse around the Mediterranean Basin. The genus is also well represented in North Africa, extending into tropical, sub-Saharan and southern Africa. Eight native species are recognized in southern Africa, taxonomically placed in two sections: Elisanthe and Silene s.

In situ radiation explains the frequency of dioecious palms on islands.

Background And Aims: Dioecy has evolved up to 5000 times in angiosperms, despite the potentially high intrinsic costs to unisexuality. Dioecy prevents inbreeding, which is especially relevant on isolated islands when gene pools are small. Dioecy is also associated with certain dispersal traits, such as fruit size and type.

Fossil data support a pre-Cretaceous origin of flowering plants.

Flowering plants (angiosperms) are the most diverse of all land plants, becoming abundant in the Cretaceous and achieving dominance in the Cenozoic. However, the exact timing of their origin remains a controversial topic, with molecular clocks generally placing their origin much further back in time than the oldest unequivocal fossils. To resolve this discrepancy, we developed a Bayesian method to estimate the ages of angiosperm families on the basis of the fossil record (a newly compiled dataset of ~15,000 occurrences in 198 families) and their living diversity.

Selective Sweeps Lead to Evolutionary Success in an Amazonian Hyperdominant Palm.

Despite the global importance of tropical ecosystems, few studies have identified how natural selection has shaped their megadiversity. Here, we test for the role of adaptation in the evolutionary success of the widespread, highly abundant Neotropical palm We used a genome scan framework, sampling 16,262 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with target sequence capture in 264 individuals from 22 populations in rainforest and savanna ecosystems. We identified outlier loci as well as signal of adaptation using Bayesian correlations of allele frequency with environmental variables and detected both selective sweeps and genetic hitchhiking events.

Higher evolutionary rates in life-history traits in insular than in mainland palms.

Isolated islands, due to the reduced interspecific competition compared to mainland habitats, present ecological opportunities for colonizing lineages. As a consequence, island lineages may be expected to experience higher rates of trait evolution than mainland lineages. However, island effects on key life-history traits of vascular plants remain underexplored at broad spatiotemporal scales, even for emblematic island clades such as palms.

Pollinators drive floral evolution in an Atlantic Forest genus.

Pollinators are important drivers of angiosperm diversification at both micro- and macroevolutionary scales. Both hummingbirds and bats pollinate the species-rich and morphologically diverse genus across its distribution in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Here, we (i) determine if floral traits predict functional groups of pollinators as documented, confirming the pollination syndromes in and (ii) test if genetic structure in is driven by geography (latitudinal and altitudinal heterogeneity) or ecology (pollination syndromes).

Disproportionate extinction of South American mammals drove the asymmetry of the Great American Biotic Interchange.

The interchange between the previously disconnected faunas of North and South America was a massive experiment in biological invasion. A major gap in our understanding of this invasion is why there was a drastic increase in the proportion of mammals of North American origin found in South America. Four nonmutually exclusive mechanisms may explain this asymmetry: 1) Higher dispersal rate of North American mammals toward the south, 2) higher origination of North American immigrants in South America, 3) higher extinction of mammals with South American origin, and 4) similar dispersal rate but a larger pool of native taxa in North versus South America.

Selective extinction against redundant species buffers functional diversity.

The extinction of species can destabilize ecological processes. A way to assess the ecological consequences of species loss is by examining changes in functional diversity. The preservation of functional diversity depends on the range of ecological roles performed by species, or functional richness, and the number of species per role, or functional redundancy.

Unraveling the Phylogenomic Relationships of the Most Diverse African Palm Genus (Calamoideae, Arecaceae).

Palms are conspicuous floristic elements across the tropics. In continental Africa, even though there are less than 70 documented species, they are omnipresent across the tropical landscape. The genus has 20 accepted species in Africa and one species endemic to the Neotropics.

A Guide to Carrying Out a Phylogenomic Target Sequence Capture Project.

High-throughput DNA sequencing techniques enable time- and cost-effective sequencing of large portions of the genome. Instead of sequencing and annotating whole genomes, many phylogenetic studies focus sequencing effort on large sets of pre-selected loci, which further reduces costs and bioinformatic challenges while increasing coverage. One common approach that enriches loci before sequencing is often referred to as target sequence capture.

Drivers of bromeliad leaf and floral bract variation across a latitudinal gradient in the Atlantic Forest.

Aim: Understanding the complex interaction and relative contributions of factors involved in species and trait diversification is crucial to gain insights into the evolution of Neotropical biodiversity. Here, we investigated the drivers of morphological variation in bromeliads along a latitudinal gradient in a biodiversity hotspot.

Location: Atlantic Forest, Brazil.

Targeted Capture of Hundreds of Nuclear Genes Unravels Phylogenetic Relationships of the Diverse Neotropical Palm Tribe Geonomateae.

The tribe Geonomateae is a widely distributed group of 103 species of Neotropical palms which contains six ecologically important understory or subcanopy genera. Although it has been the focus of many studies, our understanding of the evolutionary history of this group, and in particular of the taxonomically complex genus , is far from complete due to a lack of molecular data. Specifically, the previous Sanger sequencing-based studies used a few informative characters and partial sampling.

Ancient Polyploidy and Genome Evolution in Palms.

Mechanisms of genome evolution are fundamental to our understanding of adaptation and the generation and maintenance of biodiversity, yet genome dynamics are still poorly characterized in many clades. Strong correlations between variation in genomic attributes and species diversity across the plant tree of life suggest that polyploidy or other mechanisms of genome size change confer selective advantages due to the introduction of genomic novelty. Palms (order Arecales, family Arecaceae) are diverse, widespread, and dominant in tropical ecosystems, yet little is known about genome evolution in this ecologically and economically important clade.

Adjacency and Area Explain Species Bioregional Shifts in Neotropical Palms.

Environmental and geographical variables are known drivers of community assembly, however their influence on phylogenetic structure and phylogenetic beta diversity of lineages within different bioregions is not well-understood. Using Neotropical palms as a model, we investigate how environmental and geographical variables affect the assembly of lineages into bioregions across an evolutionary time scale. We also determine lineage shifts between tropical (TRF) and non-tropical (non-TRF) forests.