| Abstract Detail
Biogeography Dick, Christopher [1], Bemmels, Jordan [2], Valencia, Renato [3], Pérez Castañeda, Alvaro [3]. The role of mountains as biogeographic filters of tropical rain forest diversity. The northern Andean region poses a barrier for lowland rain forest organisms because of its high elevations in conjunction with the aridity of adjacent savannas. Nevertheless, a remarkably large number of rain forest plant species have overcome this barrier, indicating that the Andes has acted historically as a biogeographic filter rather than as a strict geographic barrier. The history of cross-Andean vicariance and dispersal has implications for understanding the age structure of tropical diversity, and how regional species pools and communities have been assembled. Gentry (1982), for example, noted that Central American forests were relatively species poor and often harbored the single “weedy” species of otherwise non-weedy Amazonian tree genera. In this talk, we combined phylogeographic analyses and functional trait data from widespread rain forest tree species to evaluate Gentry’s hypothesis and assess the relationship between functional traits, biogeographic history, and the impact of this history on the assembly of species pools and ecological communities.
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1 - University Of Michigan, Ecology And Evolutionary Biology, 830 N University, 2019 Natural Science, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
2 - University of Michigan, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
3 - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Biología, Quito, Ecuador
Keywords:
neotropics
tropical tree species
phylogeography
Great American Biotic Interchange.
Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Topics
Session: 3
Location: Salmon/Boise Centre
Date: Monday, July 28th, 2014
Time: 8:30 AM
Number: 3003
Abstract ID:383
Candidate for Awards:None |
