Plant Evolution in the Mediterranean

By J. Thompson. 2020

478 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Plant Evolution in the Mediterranean: Insights for conservation brings together a diverse literature on the Mediterranean flora in a detailed but synthetic account of plant evolutionary ecology. The central themes of ecological dynamics and evolutionary differentiation are developed at two spatial scales: habitat variation across the landscape and biogeographic processes across the Mediterranean. The history of the Mediterranean region is at the heart of this account and is described within a triptych that links geological and climatic history to the advent and history of human activities. The Mediterranean region is a hotspot of plant biodiversity, a key ingredient of which is its richness in endemic species. A primary question motivating this book concerns the role of historical factors and spatial environmental variation in the evolution of endemism. The Mediterranean landscape is a mosaic of ecological conditions, often with variation over short distances. A second focus is on the ecological and historical factors that mediate dispersal, reproduction, and adaptive trait variation in this mosaic landscape. With an ever-growing human footprint on the Mediterranean region, this book addresses a third major theme concerning the vulnerability and conservation of the flora. Alongside a traditional approach to rare species and protected area management, the book argues for the integration of the loss of evolutionary potential as a priority in conservation policy and practice. This accessible text is aimed at students and researchers in plant evolution, ecology, biogeography, and conservation science. It will be of interest to scientists and natural history societies worldwide.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Plant Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/1fe933daaff1c3beabb833d3168d47907b165be1

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Citations in the corpus

The Strait of Gibraltar as a melting pot for plant biodiversity (2008, background): “In the rest of the biodiversity hotspots of the Mediterranean region, by contrast, endemism is mainly of orographic and/or insular nature (Favarger, 1972; Médail and Quézel, 1997) and markedly associated with herbaceous perennial life-forms (Thompson, 2005).”
Spatial pattern of adult trees and the mammal-generated seed rain in the Iberian pear (2010, background): “Given the unpredictability of the Mediterranean weather (Thompson 2005), which diversifies the environmental conditions at seed deposition sites, the assemblage of P.”
A tale of migrations from east to west: the Irano‐Turanian floristic region as a source of Mediterranean xerophytes (2014, background): “…of penetrations of IT elements (including Haplophyllum) into the Mediterranean region during the late Tertiary, as demonstrated by phylogenetic analyses and floristic similarities (Zohary, 1973; Qu ezel, 1985, 1995; Thompson, 2005; Mansion et al., 2008; Jabbour & Renner, 2011; Salvo et al., 2011).”
Restoration demography: a 10-year demographic comparison between introduced and natural populations of endemic Centaurea corymbosa (Asteraceae) (2008, background): “In such stable habitats where community succession and habitat closure are prevented (Thompson 2005), and which are gen erally surrounded by unsuitable patches such as farmland and forest, colonization ability has probably been selected against (Colas, Olivieri & Riba 1997), while traits promoting l”
Glacial refugia influence plant diversity patterns in the Mediterranean Basin (2009, background): “The onset of the Mediterranean climate, major palaeogeographical events such as the Messinian Salinity Crisis (5.77–5.33 Ma), and the Milankovitch climate oscillations since the late Tertiary explain the heterogeneous evolutionary history of Mediterranean plant lineages (Thompson, 2005).”
Ecological differentiation of Mediterranean endemic plants (2005, background): “Although the patterns of distribution shown by many endemic species in the Mediterranean (including the Cyclamen we have studied) fit this role for geographic speciation, no study has yet probed the process that creates this pattern (Thompson, 2005).”