Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-2011
Publisher
Evolution, Wiley-Blackwell
Abstract
Habitat specialization plays an important role in the creation and loss of biodiversity over ecological and evolutionary time scales. In California, serpentine soils have a distinctive flora, with 246 serpentine habitat specialists (i.e., endemics). Using molecular phylogenies for 23 genera containing 784 taxa and 51 endemics, we infer few transitions out of the endemic state, which is shown by an analysis of transition rates to simply reflect the low frequency of endemics (i.e., reversal rates were high). The finding of high reversal rates, but a low number of reversals, is consistent with the widely hypothesized trade-off between serpentine tolerance and competitive ability, under which serpentine endemics are physiologically capable of growing in less-stressful habitats but competitors lead to their extirpation. Endemism is also characterized by a decrease in speciation and extinction rates and a decrease in the overall diversification rate. We also find that tolerators (species with nonserpentine and serpentine populations) undergo speciation in serpentine habitats to give rise to new serpentine endemics but are several times more likely to lose serpentine populations to produce serpentine-intolerant taxa. Finally, endemics were younger on average than nonendemics, but this alone does not explain their low diversification.
Recommended Citation
Brian L. Anacker, Justen B. Whittall, Emma E. Goldberg, Susan P. Harrison. Origins and Consequences of Serpentine Endemism in California Flora. Evolution: International Journal of Organic Evolution, Volume 65, Number 2 (February 2011), pp. 365-376
Sponsorship
This work was partly supported by an Achievements Rewards for College Scientists Foundation scholar award (to BLA), a Comparative Biology Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Section of Evolution and Ecology at UC Davis (to JBW), IPY#0733078 (to JBW), and NSF DEB-0919089 (for EEG).
Comments
© The Authors 2011. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Evolution 65-2: 365-376. doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.2010.01114.x