Publication
Title
Temporal and palaeoclimatic context of the evolution of insular woodiness in the Canary Islands
Author
Abstract
Insular woodiness (IW), referring to the evolutionary transition from herbaceousness toward woodiness on islands, has arisen more than 30 times on the Canary Islands (Atlantic Ocean). One of the IW hypotheses suggests that drought has been a major driver of wood formation, but we do not know in which palaeoclimatic conditions the insular woody lineages originated. Therefore, we provided an updated review on the presence of IW on the Canaries, reviewed the palaeoclimate, and estimated the timing of origin of woodiness of 24 insular woody lineages that represent a large majority of the insular woody species diversity on the Canaries. Our single, broad-scale dating analysis shows that woodiness in 60%-65% of the insular woody lineages studied originated within the last 3.2 Myr, during which Mediterranean seasonality (yearly summer droughts) became established on the Canaries. Consequently, our results are consistent with palaeoclimatic aridification as a potential driver of woodiness in a considerable proportion of the insular woody Canary Island lineages. However, the observed pattern between insular woodiness and palaeodrought during the last couple of million years could potentially have emerged as a result of the typically young age of the native insular flora, characterized by a high turnover.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Ecology and evolution. - Oxford, 2011, currens
Publication
Oxford : Wiley-Blackwell , 2021
ISSN
2045-7758
DOI
10.1002/ECE3.7986
Volume/pages
11 :17 (2021) , p. 12220-12231
ISI
000685945200001
Pubmed ID
34522372
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 05.10.2021
Last edited 02.10.2024
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