| Abstract Detail
Patterns and Mechanisms of Evolution of Island Plants Francisco-Ortega, Javier [1]. The origin of the Macaronesian flora: a perspective from molecular phylogenetics. The Macaronesian islands comprise five Atlantic archipelagos: Azores, Madeira, Selvagems, Canaries, and Cape Verde. In the last ten years, molecular phylogenetics has had a major impact in elucidating relationships between the endemic flora of these islands and continental areas. Prior to these phylogenetic studies, it was suggested that a great proportion of the endemic flora belonged to early branching groups, and that they were linked to a Tertiary flora from the Mediterranean Basin. A review of available molecular phylogenies for these endemic taxa is presented to evaluate sister relationships between the endemic species and their continental relatives. This review shows that the majority of these species are sister to lineages that have a predominantly Mediterranean distribution. However, the majority of these studies are based solely on single genes and do not include exhaustive taxonomic sampling on mainland areas. In many cases, relevant nodes have low bootstrap support. The main conclusion of this presentation is that despite the high number of molecular phylogenies available that include Macaronesian taxa, more exhaustive studies are needed.
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1 - Dept. Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Miami, Florida, 33199, USA
Keywords:
none specified
Presentation Type: Symposium or Colloquium Presentation
Session: 42-2
Location: Salon J - Austin Grand Ballroom/Hilton
Date: Wednesday, August 17th, 2005
Time: 8:15 AM
Abstract ID:53 |
