Open AccessInsight into Central Asian flora from the Cenozoic Tianshan montane origin and radiation of Lagochilus (Lamiaceae)
Author(s) -
Mingli Zhang,
Xiao-Qing Zeng,
Stewart C. Sanderson,
V. V. Byalt,
Alexander P. Sukhorukov
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0178389
Subject(s) - aridification , steppe , geology , cenozoic , biome , paleontology , plateau (mathematics) , genus , biogeography , geography , endemism , late miocene , ecology , arid , biology , ecosystem , mathematical analysis , mathematics , structural basin
The Tianshan Mountains play a significant role in the Central Asian flora and vegetation. Lagochilus has a distribution concentration in Tianshan Mountains and Central Asia. To investigate generic spatiotemporal evolution, we sampled most Lagochilus species and sequenced six cpDNA locations ( rps 16, psb A- trn H, mat K, trn L- trn F, psb B- psb H, psb K- psb I). We employed BEAST Bayesian inference for dating, and S-DIVA, DEC, and BBM for ancestral area/biome reconstruction. Our results clearly show that the Tianshan Mountains, especially the western Ili-Kirghizia Tianshan, as well as Sunggar and Kaschgar, was the ancestral area. Ancestral biome was mainly in the montane steppe zone of valley and slope at altitudes of 1700–2700 m, and the montane desert zone of foothill and front-hill at 1000–1700 m. Here two sections Inermes and Lagochilus of the genus displayed “uphill” and “downhill” speciation process during middle and later Miocene. The origin and diversification of the genus were explained as coupled with the rapid uplift of the Tianshan Mountains starting in late Oligocene and early Miocene ca. 23.66~19.33 Ma, as well as with uplift of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) and Central Asian aridification.