Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Miami, Florida » Subtropical Horticulture Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #269608
Title: From East Gondwana to Central America: Historical biogeography of the Alstroemeriaceae

Author
item CHACON, JULIANA - University Of Munich
item DE ASSIS, MARTA - Embrapa
item Meerow, Alan
item RENNER, SUSANNE - Embrapa

Submitted to: Journal of Biogeography
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/16/2012
Publication Date: 7/12/2012
Citation: Chacon, J., De Assis, M.C., Meerow, A.W., Renner, S.S. 2012. From East Gondwana to Central America: Historical biogeography of the Alstroemeriaceae. Journal of Biogeography. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2012.02749.x.

Interpretive Summary: Alstroemeria is one of the most important cutflower crop genera in floriculture. A dated tree-of-life based on multiple DNA sequences is generated to determine directions of expansion and impacts of geologic events on the alstroemeria family. The family originated in Cretaceous East Gondwana (today’s Patagonia, Antarctica, Australia), but Luzuriaga parviflora from New Zealand separated from its Chilean/Patagonian relatives only 0.4–6.1 million years ago (MYA), following long distance dispersal. Alstroemeria, began diversifying early during the uplift of the Patagonian Andes ~18.4 MYA, following the disappearance (13–11 MYA) of a dispersal barrier formed by marine incursions, another genus (Bomarea) radiated to the Northern Andes. A 14–15 million year old belt of dry ecosystems resulting from the Andean rain shadow separated a Brazilian group of Alstroemeria. For this and other families of the Southern Hemisphere, the Patagonian region presented the portal connecting East Gondwana with West Gondwana, but our results suggest that it was the rapid Miocene geologic and climate changes there that left the clearest imprints.

Technical Abstract: Southern South America and Australia/New Zealand share some 15 plant families more or less restricted to them. Understanding these Austral floristic links requires extensive sampling in both regions. For the Alstroemeriaceae, with 189 species in three South American genera, two in an Australian/Tasmanian genus, and four in a genus disjunct between South America and New Zealand, we generated a dated phylogeny based on the three plant genomes to determine directions of expansion and impacts of geologic events. The family originated in Cretaceous East Gondwana (today’s Patagonia, Antarctica,Australia), but Luzuriaga parviflora from New Zealand separated from its Chilean/Patagonian relatives only 0.4–6.1 Ma ago, following long distance dispersal. Alstroemeria, began diversifying early during the uplift of the Patagonian Andes ~18.4 Ma; following the disappearance (13–11 Ma) of a dispersal barrier formed by marine incursions, another clade (Bomarea) radiated to the Northern Andes. A 14–15 Ma-old belt of dry ecosystems resulting from the Andean rain shadow separated a Brazilian clade. For this and other families of the Southern Hemisphere, the Patagonian region presented the portal connecting East Gondwana with West Gondwana, but our results suggest that it was the rapid Miocene geologic and climate changes there that left the clearest imprints.