Open AccessClimate niche conservatism does not explain restricted distribution patterns in T ynanthus ( B ignonieae, B ignoniaceae)
Author(s) -
Medeiros Maria Cláudia Melo Pacheco,
Guisan Antoine,
Lohmann Lúcia G.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
botanical journal of the linnean society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.872
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1095-8339
pISSN - 0024-4074
DOI - 10.1111/boj.12300
Subject(s) - niche , biology , ecological niche , ecology , genus , environmental niche modelling , divergence (linguistics) , phylogenetic tree , evolutionary biology , conservatism , habitat , politics , linguistics , philosophy , biochemistry , gene , political science , law
Studies on niche evolution allow us to establish how species niches have changed over time and to identify how long‐term evolutionary processes have led to present‐day species distributions. Here, we investigate the patterns of climatic niche evolution in T ynanthus ( B ignonieae, B ignoniaceae), a genus of narrowly distributed species. We test the hypothesis that niche conservatism has played an important role in the history of this group of N eotropical lianas. We perform univariate and multivariate comparisons between climatic niches of species and associated environmental data with information on phylogenetic relationships. We encountered considerable divergence in niches among species, indicating that niche conservatism in climatic variables does not seem to have played a key role in the history of the genus. © 2015 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society , 2015, 179 , 95–109.