Tracing the biogeographic history of the world's most isolated insular floras

作者：Ángela Aguado‐Lara, Isabel Sanmartín, Johannes J. Le Roux, Carlos García‐Verdugo, Sonia Molino, Peter Convey, Bettine Jansen van Vuuren, Mario Mairal · 发表于：Journal of Systematics and Evolution · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1111/jse.13170 · 被引用次数：5 · 研究领域：Plant Diversity and Evolution、Plant and Fungal Species Descriptions、Plant and animal studies

Abstract Inferring general biogeographic patterns in the sub‐Antarctic region has been challenging due to the disparate geological origins of its islands and archipelagos—ranging from Gondwanan fragments to uplifted seafloor and more recently formed volcanic islands—and the remoteness of these island systems, spread around the austral continental landmasses. Here, we conduct phylogenetic reconstruction, divergence time estimation, and Bayesian Island Biogeographic analyses to reconstruct the spatio–temporal colonization histories of seven vascular plant lineages, which are either widespread across the sub‐Antarctic region ( Acaena magellanica , Austroblechnum penna‐marina, Azorella selago , Notogrammitis crassior ) or restricted to an extremely remote sub‐Antarctic province ( Colobanthus kerguelensis, Polystichum marionense , Pringlea antiscorbutica ). Our results reveal high biological connectivity within the sub‐Antarctic region, with southern landmasses (Australia, New Zealand, South America) as key sources of sub‐Antarctic plant diversity since the Miocene, supporting long‐distance dispersal as the primary colonization mechanism rather than tectonic vicariance. Despite the geographic isolation of the sub‐Antarctic islands, eastward and westward colonization events have maintained this connectivity, likely facilitated by eastward‐moving marine and wind currents, short‐term weather systems, and/or dispersal by birds. Divergence time estimates indicate that most species dive...