Abstract
Our goals were to explore the relationship between biogeography and the evolution of fire-adaptive syndromes in the genus Pinus. We used a previously published time-calibrated phylogeny and conducted ancestral trait reconstruction to estimate the likely timing of diversification in Pinus, and to determine when fire-adaptive syndromes evolved in the lineage. To explore trait conservation among fire syndromes and to investigate historical biogeography, we constructed ancestral state reconstructions using the program RASP and estimated the degree of conservatism for fire-adapted traits in the program BaTS. Our reconstructions suggest that the Bering land bridge, which connected North America and Asia, probably played a major role in early pine evolution. Our estimates indicated that fire-adaptive syndromes seem to have evolved more frequently in New World taxa and probably are related to the uplift of major North American mountain ranges. Our data suggest that certain geographically widespread adaptations to fire evolved repeatedly, possibly due to localized changes in climate and environment, rather than resulting from large dispersal events of pre-adapted individuals.
Highlights
Understanding the origin and distribution of ecological traits within related taxa is an important goal in evolutionary biology (e.g. [1,2])
While the node is not included in the figures, our results do not clearly delineate the geographical location for the ancestor for the genus Pinus, though the Bayesian posterior probabilities (Bpp) indicate that southeast Asia has the highest support (49% Bpp) followed by subtropical North America (30% Bpp) and eastern North America (8% Bpp), with unresolved areas contributing to the remainder (13% Bpp)
Our results provide more details on the biogeography of Pinus evolution and the evolutionary relationship pines have with fire
Summary
Understanding the origin and distribution of ecological traits within related taxa is an important goal in evolutionary biology (e.g. [1,2]). Understanding the origin and distribution of ecological traits within related taxa is an important goal in evolutionary biology While many studies of trait evolution often 2 focus on a single trait of interest, characters can evolve together as a suite of correlated traits, such as pollination [8] and seed syndromes [9]. To fully understand how traits and/or associated syndromes evolve in a particular lineage requires the examination of phylogenetic, biogeographic and ecological data [10]. Understanding the biogeography and evolution of a particular taxon can aid in understanding how it may evolve in the future as environmental conditions shift
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