Phylogenies of the seasonally dry tropical dry forest genera Ruprecthia (Polygonaceae), Coursetia, Poissonia, Chaetocalyx, Nissolia (all Leguminosae) and Loxopterygium (Anacardiaceae) show relatively old diversifications and a high degree of geographical phylogenetic structure where related species are found in the same or adjacent areas. This contrasts with more recent speciation patterns of the rain forest genera Inga and Renealmia, whose phylogenies shows low geographic phylogenetic structure. The implication is that the historical assembly of neotropical dry forest and rain forest communities may be different. Testing the generality of these patterns, and answering the fundamental question of whether the tempo and mode of evolution differs among distinct biomes will require further phylogenies of taxa from each biome.
Recent developments in ecology offer a new and exciting synthesis of the disciplines of biological inventory, systematics and evolutionary biology. For example, neutral ecological theory and data of relative species abundance permits estimates of rates of speciation and migration, two parameters that are central to understanding the historical construction of ecosystems. We aim to explore whether neutral ecological theory can be used to infer and contrast rates of speciation and migration from botanical inventory gathered in different biomes.
Recent publications
Pennington, R.T., Lavin, M. Prado, D.E., Pendry, C.A., Pell, S. & Butterworth, C.A. (2004). Historical climate change and speciation: Neotropical seasonally dry forest plants show patterns of both Tertiary and Quaternary diversification. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (Biological Sciences) 359: 515-538.
Pennington, R.T., Richardson, J.A., Lavin M. (2006). Insights into the historical construction of species-rich biomes from dated plant phylogenies, phylogenetic community structure and neutral ecological theory. New Phytologist 172: 605-616 (invited Tansley Review).