Is the East Asian flora ancient or not?

作     者：Yong-Sheng Chen Tao Deng Zhuo Zhou Hang Sun 

作者机构：Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia Kunming Institute of BotanyChinese Academy of Sciences College of Life Science Northeast Agricultural University University of Chinese Academy of Sciences 

出 版 物：《National Science Review》 (国家科学评论(英文版))

年 卷 期：2018年第5卷第6期

页      面：920-932页

核心收录：

学科分类：0710[理学-生物学] 071001[理学-植物学] 07[理学] 

基　　金：supported by the Major Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China(31590823) the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2017YFC0505201) 

主　　题：Asian monsoon East Asian Flora Metasequoia Flora Rhododendron Flora temporal and spatial evolution 

摘      要：The East Asian flora(EAF) is a key biodiversity hotspot for understanding the origin and evolution of Northern Hemisphere floras, but there is an ongoing debate on whether it is a museum or a cradle for seed plants. Within the EAF, two main floras, the Sino-Himalayan Flora(mainly the Rhododendron Flora) and the Sino-Japanese Flora(mainly the Metasequoia Flora), have been recognized. Previous studies suggested that the EAF is ancient and the Metasequoia Flora is older than the Rhododendron Flora. To test this hypothesis, we synthesized molecular as well as fossil data on seed plants, focusing on the biogeographical origins and historical evolution of the EAF. We compared the ages of its two constituent floras, and examined the impact of the Asian monsoon and other environmental changes on the development of EAF through meta-analysis. Our results suggest that the EAF might be relatively young, with most of its clades originating since the Miocene. The Rhododendron Flora and the Metasequoia Flora are probably of a similar age. The formation and development of the Asian monsoon might have been the main factors that have driven the evolution of EAF. In the Rhododendron Flora, the north-south mountain chains increased the concentration of species and reduced extinction, and the barriers between the east and west have resulted in species differentiation, which triggered it to become a diversity center. The EAF appears to have multiple biogeographical origins, having closely affiliated not only with other floras in the Northern Hemisphere, but also with Gondwanan floras.