Impact of the climatic changes in the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition on Irano-Turanian species. The radiation of genus Jurinea (Compositae).

The Irano-Turanian region is one of the world's richest floristic regions and the centre of diversity for numerous xerophytic plant lineages. However, we still have limited knowledge on the timing of evolution and biogeographic history of its flora, and potential drivers of diversification remain underexplored. To fill this knowledge gap, we focus on the Eurasian genus Jurinea (ca.

African Mountain Thistles: Three New Genera in the Group.

The floras on the highest mountains in tropical eastern Africa are among the most unique floras in the world. Despite the exceptionally high concentration of endemic species, these floras remain understudied from an evolutionary point of view. In this study, we focus on the group (subtribe Carduinae) to unravel the evolutionary relationships of the species endemic to the tropical Afromontane and Afroalpine floras, aiming to improve the systematics of the group.

Repeatedly Northwards and Upwards: Southern African Grasslands Fuel the Colonization of the African Sky Islands in (Compositae).

The Afromontane and Afroalpine areas constitute some of the main biodiversity hotspots of Africa. They are particularly rich in plant endemics, but the biogeographic origins and evolutionary processes leading to this outstanding diversity are poorly understood. We performed phylogenomic and biogeographic analyses of one of the most species-rich plant genera in these mountains, (Compositae-Gnaphalieae).

Subsect. (Compositae, Cardueae): A Case Study of Mountain-Driven Allopatric Speciation in the Mediterranean Peninsulas.

subsection has been thoroughly analyzed in previous studies using microsatellites in four centers of speciation: Anatolia, Greece, the Italian Peninsula and the Iberian Peninsula. Evidence suggests a correlation between taxon diversity and mountains. This group constituted a good case study for examining the mountain-geobiodiversity hypothesis (MGH), which explains the possible reasons for the many radiations occurring in mountains across the world.

Biogeography of Rhaponticoides, an Irano-Turanian element in the Mediterranean flora.

Floristic relationships between the Irano-Turanian and Mediterranean regions have been known from old. However, only a few biogeographical analyses based on molecular data have evaluated the history of steppe plants within the Mediterranean basin. Our study aims to contribute to a better understanding of the migratory and diversification processes by reconstructing the biogeography of Rhaponticoides (Cardueae), distributed in the Mediterranean and Irano-Turanian regions.

Climate Stability Index maps, a global high resolution cartography of climate stability from Pliocene to 2100.

Climate changes are top biodiversity shapers, both during the past and future. Mapping the most climatic stable and unstable zones on Earth could improve our understanding of biodiversity distribution and evolution. Here, we present a set of maps based on a global scale, high resolution (ca.

Genetic diversity and structure of the narrow endemic (Apiaceae): implications for translocation.

(Apiaceae) is an extremely narrow endemic plant, which is considered as one of the species of most conservation concern in Catalonia (NW Mediterranean Basin). Given the accelerated fragmentation and reduction of population size (of over 90%), the environmental agency of Catalonia is currently preparing a recovery plan that includes reinforcements of the extant populations. The present study is aimed at providing the necessary knowledge to carry out genetically-informed translocations, by using microsatellites as genetic markers.

Islands as a crossroad of evolutionary lineages: A case study of Centaurea sect. Centaurea (Compositae) from Sardinia (Mediterranean Basin).

The Mediterranean Basin is a biodiversity hotspot, where islands play a key role because of their high biological diversity, degree of endemicity and human pressure. One of these islands, Sardinia, is a good evolutionary laboratory, especially for the study of complex genera, such as Centaurea. In particular, endemic species of Centaurea sect.

Nuclear and plastid DNA phylogeny of tribe Cardueae (Compositae) with Hyb-Seq data: A new subtribal classification and a temporal diversification framework.

Classification of tribe Cardueae in natural subtribes has always been a challenge due to the lack of support of some critical branches in previous phylogenies based on traditional Sanger markers. With the aim to propose a new subtribal delimitation, we applied a Hyb-Seq approach to a set of 76 Cardueae species representing all subtribes and informal groups defined in the tribe, targeting 1061 nuclear conserved orthology loci (COS) designed for Compositae and obtaining chloroplast coding regions as by-product of off-target reads. For the extraction of the target nuclear data, we used two strategies, PHYLUCE and HybPiper, and 776 and 1055 COS loci were recovered with each of them, respectively.

Influence of the Quaternary Glacial Cycles and the Mountains on the Reticulations in the Subsection of the Genus .

Late Neogene and Quaternary climatic oscillations have greatly shaped the genetic structure of the Mediterranean Basin flora, with mountain plant species tracking warm interglacials/cold glacials by means of altitudinal shifts instead of broad latitudinal ones. Such dynamics may have enhanced population divergence but also secondary contacts. In this paper, we use a case example of subsection of (comprising three narrowly distributed endemic species, , , and ) to test for reticulate evolution and recurrent hybridizations between nearby populations.

Phylogeography of western Mediterranean Cymbalaria (Plantaginaceae) reveals two independent long-distance dispersals and entails new taxonomic circumscriptions.

The Balearic Islands, Corsica and Sardinia (BCS) constitute biodiversity hotspots in the western Mediterranean Basin. Oligocene connections and long distance dispersal events have been suggested to cause presence of BCS shared endemic species. One of them is Cymbalaria aequitriloba, which, together with three additional species, constitute a polyploid clade endemic to BCS.

Scanning Electron Microscopy Coupled with Energy Dispersive Spectrometric Analysis Reveals for the First Time Weddellite and Sylvite Crystals on the Surface of Involucral Bracts and Petals of two Xeranthemum L. (Compositae) Species.

In this work, weddellite and sylvite crystals are identified for the first time on the involucral bracts and petals of Xeranthemum annuum and Xeranthemum cylindraceum using scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive spectrometric (SEM-EDS) analysis. Well-developed crystals of weddellite (CaC2O4·2H2O) occur in the form of a tetragonal bipyramid (hhl), rarely in combination of a bipyramid and tetragonal prism (h00). Indumentum of involucral bracts of X.

Speciation and genetic diversity in Centaurea subsect. Phalolepis in Anatolia.

Mountains of Anatolia are one of the main Mediterranean biodiversity hotspots and their richness in endemic species amounts for 30% of the flora. Two main factors may account for this high diversity: the complex orography and its role as refugia during past glaciations. We have investigated seven narrow endemics of Centaurea subsection Phalolepis from Anatolia by means of microsatellites and ecological niche modelling (ENM), in order to analyse genetic polymorphisms and getting insights into their speciation.

Mountains and refuges: Genetic structure and evolutionary history in closely related, endemic Centaurea in continental Greece.

Mountains of continental Greece are one of the main Mediterranean biodiversity hotspots, very rich in endemic species. The speciation in this area might have resulted from two main factors: a complex orography and its role as a refugium during past glaciations. We have investigated genetic diversity and population structure for a group of narrow endemics of Centaurea subsect.

The Polyploid Series of the Achillea millefolium Aggregate in the Iberian Peninsula Investigated Using Microsatellites.

The Achillea millefolium aggregate is one of the most diverse polyploid complexes of the Northern hemisphere and has its western Eurasian boundary in the Iberian Peninsula. Four ploidy levels have been detected in A. millefolium, three of which have already been found in Iberia (diploid, hexaploid and octoploid), and a fourth (tetraploid) reported during the preparation of this paper.

Phylogeny of the Centaurea group (Centaurea, Compositae) - geography is a better predictor than morphology.

The Centaurea group is part of the Circum-Mediterranean Clade (CMC) of genus Centaurea subgenus Centaurea, a mainly Mediterranean plant group with more than 200 described species. The group is traditionally split on morphological basis into three sections: Centaurea, Phalolepis and Willkommia. This division, however, is doubtful, especially in light of molecular approaches.

Miocene-Pliocene speciation, introgression, and migration of Patis and Ptilagrostis (Poaceae: Stipeae).

Genetic interchange between American and Eurasian species is fundamental to our understanding of the biogeographical patterns, and we make a first attempt to reconstruct the evolutionary events in East Asia that lead to the origin and dispersal of two genera, Patis and Ptilagrostis. We conducted a molecular phylogenetic study of 78 species in the tribe Stipeae using four plastid DNA sequences (ndhF, rpl32-trnL, rps16-trnK, and rps16 intron) and two nuclear DNA sequences (ITS and At103). We use single copy nDNA gene At103 for the first time in the grasses to elucidate the evolutionary history among members of the Stipeae.

Allopolyploid origin of highly invasive Centaurea stoebe s.l. (Asteraceae).

Spotted knapweed (Centaurea stoebe) occurs from Western Asia to Western Europe both as diploid and tetraploid cytotypes, predominantly in single-cytotype populations with higher frequency of diploid populations. Interestingly, only tetraploids have been recorded so far from its introduced range in North America where they became highly invasive. We performed phylogenetic and network analyses of more than 40 accessions of the C.

Lessons from Plectocephalus (Compositae, Cardueae-Centaureinae): ITS disorientation in annuals and Beringian dispersal as revealed by molecular analyses.

Background And Aims: The geographic distribution of the genus Plectocephalus comprises a single species in Ethiopia, two in North America and possibly four more in South America, in a striking disjunction that is exceptional for genera of the tribe Cardueae. The enormity of this disjunction cast doubts on the precise taxonomic delineation of the genus, which is not unanimously recognized as a natural entity. The aims of this study were to define the generic boundaries of Plectocephalus and to formulate a hypothesis that would explain its natural range.

Isolation and characterization of novel microsatellite markers for Arctium minus (Compositae).

Premise Of The Study: Microsatellite primers were developed for the invasive plant Arctium minus to investigate the effects of facultative self-pollination and the biannual habit on population genetic structure, as well as the colonization of the Americas by this Eurasian species. •

Methods And Results: Sixteen di- and trinucleotide microsatellite loci were identified in six populations. The number of alleles per locus ranged from one to 10, observed heterozygosities ranged from 0.

Reconstructing the history of Campanulaceae with a Bayesian approach to molecular dating and dispersal-vicariance analyses.

We reconstruct here the spatial and temporal evolution of the Campanula alliance in order to better understand its evolutionary history. To increase phylogenetic resolution among major groups (Wahlenbergieae-Campanuleae), new sequences from the rbcL region were added to the trnL-F dataset obtained in a previous study. These phylogenies were used to infer ancestral areas and divergence times in Campanula and related genera using a Bayesian approach to molecular dating and dispersal-vicariance analyses that takes into account phylogenetic uncertainty.

The polyploid series of Centaurea toletana: glacial migrations and introgression revealed by nrDNA and cpDNA sequence analyzes.

The polyploid series of Centaurea toletana comprises diploid, tetraploid, and hexaploid cytotypes. Previous studies suggested that the tetraploid was an autopolyploid, while the hexaploid was an allopolyploid and should be considered a different species, C. argecillensis.

Evolution and biogeography of Centaurea section Acrocentron inferred from nuclear and plastid DNA sequence analyses.

Background And Aims: Section Acrocentron of the genus Centaurea is one of the largest sections of Centaurea with approx. 100 species. The geographic distribution, centred in the Mediterranean, makes it an excellent example for studies of the biogeographic history of this biodiversity-rich region.

Reticulate evolution in the Acrolophus subgroup (Centaurea L., Compositae) from the western Mediterranean: origin and diversification of section Willkommia Blanca.

Section Willkommia (Centaurea, Compositae) is endemic to the east-central portion of the Iberian Peninsula and northwestern Africa. The section has been included with sections Acrolophus and Phalolepis in the informal subgroup Acrolophus. We have used a molecular phylogenetic approach to test the hypothesis proposed by earlier authors that the diversification of section Willkommia involved a schizoendemic process from an ancestral syngameon.

Phylogeny of Rhaponticum (Asteraceae, Cardueae-Centaureinae) and related genera inferred from nuclear and chloroplast DNA sequence data: taxonomic and biogeographic implications.

Background And Aims: The precise generic delimitation of the Rhaponticum group is not totally resolved. The lack of knowledge of the relationships between the basal genera of Centaureinae could imply that genera whose position is as yet unresolved could belong to the Rhaponticum group. On the other hand, the affinities among the genera that are considered as members of this group are not well known.