Why do tropical mountains support exceptionally high biodiversity? The Eastern Arc mountains and the drivers of Saintpaulia diversity.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Dimitrov D
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3501504 | biostudies-literature | 2012
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Why do tropical mountains support exceptionally high biodiversity? The Eastern Arc mountains and the drivers of Saintpaulia diversity.
Dimitrov Dimitar D Nogués-Bravo David D Scharff Nikolaj N
PloS one 20121119 11
We combine information about the evolutionary history and distributional patterns of the genus Saintpaulia H. Wendl. (Gesneriaceae; 'African violets') to elucidate the factors and processes behind the accumulation of species in tropical montane areas of high biodiversity concentration. We find that high levels of biodiversity in the Eastern Arc Mountains are the result of pre-Quaternary speciation processes and environmental stability. Our results support the hypothesis that climatically stable ...[more]
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