Patterns of Diversification Amongst Tropical Regions
ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE published: 03 December 2014 doi: 10.3389/fgene.2014.00362 Patterns of diversification amongst tropical regions compared: a case study in Sapotaceae Kate E. Armstrong 1,2,3*, Graham N. Stone 2, James A. Nicholls 2, Eugenio Valderrama 2,3, Arne A. Anderberg 4, Jenny Smedmark 5, Laurent Gautier 6, Yamama Naciri 6, Richard Milne 7 and James E. Richardson 3,8 1 The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY, USA 2 Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland 3 Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland 4 Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet, Stockholm, Sweden 5 University Museum of Bergen, Bergen, Norway 6 Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques, Genève, Switzerland 7 Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland 8 Laboratorio de Botánica y Sistemática, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá DC, Colombia Edited by: Species diversity is unequally distributed across the globe, with the greatest concentration Marshall Abrams, University of occurring in the tropics. Even within the tropics, there are significant differences in the Alabama at Birmingham, USA numbers of taxa found in each continental region. Manilkara is a pantropical genus of Reviewed by: trees in the Sapotaceae comprising c. 78 species. Its distribution allows for biogeographic Marcial Escudero, Doñana Biological Station - Consejo Superior de investigation and testing of whether rates of diversification differ amongst tropical Investigaciones Científicas, Spain regions. The age and geographical origin of Manilkara are inferred to determine whether Ze-Long Nie, Chinese Academy of Gondwanan break-up, boreotropical migration or long distance dispersal have shaped Sciences, China its current disjunct distribution. Diversification rates through time are also analyzed to *Correspondence: determine whether the timing and tempo of speciation on each continent coincides with Kate E.
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