Niche evolution versus niche conservatism and habitat loss determine persistence and extirpation in late Neogene European Fagaceae

• An increasing body of palaeobotanical data demonstrates a series of Pliocene and Pleistocene extirpationsand extinctions of plant lineages in western Eurasia, which are believed to have been determinedby the climatic properties of their related East Asian and North American sister lineages.We investigatedthe diversity of a widespread northern hemispheric plant family, Fagaceae, during the Late Pliocene ofPortugal. We found a high diversity of Fagaceae comprising extant and extinct lineages. Dispersed pollenof Castanopsis and Quercus sect. Cyclobalanopsis represent the youngest records of these Himalayan-Southeast Asian groups in western Eurasia. Likewise, fossil-species of Quercus sect. Lobatae and theNorth American clade of sect. Quercus are the youngest records of these modern New World groups inwestern Eurasia. For the extinct Trigonobalanopsis, the pollen record of Portugal is the youngest known ofthis genus. Climate data of modern representatives demonstrate that a deterministic model can explainonly a part of the Pliocene and Pleistocene extirpations. Modern cold month mean temperatures ofCastanopsis and Quercus sect. Cyclobalanopsis and their last occurrences in western Eurasia in the Pliocenefit with a deterministic model (niche conservatism). In contrast, survival or extirpation of groupswith high cold tolerance appear to have been more complex. Here, niche evolution, abundance anddiversity of a lineage during pre-Pleistocene times, and habitat availability/loss determined the fate ofFagaceae lineages in western Eurasia.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Annan geovetenskap och miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Other Earth and Related Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Ekologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Ecology (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Evolutionsbiologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Evolutionary Biology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Coldest month mean temperature

Niche conservatism

Persistence

Extirpation

Castaneoideae

Fagus

Fossil pollen

Oaks

Piacenzian

Trigonobalanopsis

Diversity of life

Livets mångfald

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)