Abstract
The Maritime and Ligurian Alps have a flora characterised by a very high number of endemic species in relation to their small geographical extension. This area is considered one of the most important centres of diversification of the Alps and a Mediterranean hotspot of biodiversity. In the last years many studies were performed in order to describe the distribution and phylogeographical patterns of endemism. Despite these studies, Maritime and Ligurian Alps still lack in a broad view about the evolution of endemisms in this area. In this review, we examine the knowledge about the distribution patterns of endemic plant species living in the Maritime and Ligurian Alps in order to identify the evolutionary and biogeographical mechanisms operating on them.
Highlights
The Mediterranean Basin is one of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity hotspots (Quézel 1995, Médail and Myers 2004)
We examine the present advances in knowledge about the endemic plants growing in the Maritime and Ligurian Alps (MLA) in order to identify and to describe the evolutionary and biogeographical mechanisms driving the high biodiversity of this area
The high proportion of endemism growing in rocky habitats (63.57%) may be the result of the low aboveground competition that it is known to play an important role in the differentiation of narrow endemic species in the western Mediterranean (Lavergne et al 2004)
Summary
GABRIELE CASAZZA*, GIUSEPPINA BARBERIS, MARIA GUERRINA, ELENA ZAPPA, MAURO MARIOTTI, LUIGI MINUTO. SUMMARY The Maritime and Ligurian Alps have a flora characterised by a very high number of endemic species in relation to their small geographical extension. This area is considered one of the most important centres of diversification of the Alps and a Mediterranean hotspot of biodiversity. In the last years many studies were performed in order to describe the distribution and phylogeographical patterns of endemism. Despite these studies, Maritime and Ligurian Alps still lack in a broad view about the evolution of endemisms in this area. We examine the knowledge about the distribution patterns of endemic plant species living in the Maritime and Ligurian Alps in order to identify the evolutionary and biogeographical mechanisms operating on them
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