Why are Magnoliaceae so diverse in the tropics? Disentangling the roles of diversification and time-for-speciation effects

• Research Article •

Why are Magnoliaceae so diverse in the tropics? Disentangling the roles of diversification and time-for-speciation effects

Huanhuan Xie^1,2†, Yixi Wang^1†, Lei Zhang³, Yaoqi Li⁴, Ruijing Cheng¹, Xin Liang¹, Nawal Shrestha⁵, Leonel Herrera-Alsina^6,7, Hong Chang¹, Khoon Meng Wong⁸, Keming Yang⁹, Xinlan Chen⁹, Rafaela Jorge Trad^10,11, Danilo Neves¹⁰, Dimitar Dimitrov¹², Pengshan Zhao^13*, Xiaoting Xu^1*, Jianquan Liu¹

¹Key Laboratory of Bio-Resource and Eco-Environment of Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China

² Henan Institute of Science and Technology, Xinxiang 453003, PR China

³ Key Laboratory of Ecological Protection of Agro-pastoral Ecotones in the Yellow River Basin National Ethnic Affairs Commission of the People’s Republic of China, College of Biological Science & Engineering, North Minzu University, Yinchuan, 750021, China

⁴ Department of Health and Environmental Sciences, School of Science, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou 215123, China

⁵ Department of Agriculture, School of Science, Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, Kavre, Nepal

⁶ School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, UK

⁷Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Czech Republic

⁸ Singapore Botanic Gardens, National Parks Board, 1 Cluny Road, 259569, Singapore;

⁹South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China

¹⁰ Institute of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte 31270-901, Brazil

¹¹ Taxonomy and Macroecology Section, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 20a Inverleith Row, Edinburgh, EH3 5LR, Scotland, UK

¹² Department of Natural History, University Museum of Bergen, University of Bergen, Bergen 5020, Norway

¹³ Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.

^†These auhtors contributed equally to this study

^*Authors for correspondence. Xiaoting Xu. Email: xiaotingxu@scu.edu.cn; Pengshan Zhao. Email: zhaopengshan@lzb.ac.cn

Received:2025-01-16 Accepted:2025-11-20
Supported by:
This research was supported by the Western Light Project of Chinese Academy of Science (xbzg-zdsys-202204), National Natural Science Foundation of China (31770566, 32301462, 31770232), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (SCU2024D003).

Abstract

Abstract: Magnoliaceae, a typical boreotropical relict lineage, exhibits striking species richness in tropical regions, making it an important model for testing the time-for-speciation and diversification rate hypotheses for present-day diversity patterns. Here, we reconstructed a time-calibrated phylogeny using plastomes from 123 species, representing Liriodendron and all 15 sections of Magnolia, and investigated its colonization and diversification history. Our results reveal that Magnoliaceae likely experienced peak extinction during the mid-Eocene, accompanied by a range contraction from high latitudes to the amphi-Pacific tropics, followed by the rise of tropical clades with rapid diversification. Phylogenetic generalized least squares analysis demonstrates that diversification rate explains clade-level diversity variation more strongly than time-for-speciation. Tropical regions, such as South America and Southeast Asia, with high Magnoliaceae diversity consistently exhibit elevated diversification rates and shorter time for speciation. These results indicate that higher diversification rate, rather than longer time for speciation, explains the high diversity of Magnoliaceae in tropical clades and regions. Our findings not only shed light on the evolutionary history of Magnoliaceae but also provide important insights into the broader processes that shape tropical biodiversity.

Key words: diversity patterns, diversification rates, extinction, historical biogeography, magnoliaceae, time-for-speciation

Huanhuan Xie, Yixi Wang, Lei Zhang, Yaoqi Li, Ruijing Cheng, Xin Liang, Nawal Shrestha, Leonel Herrera-Alsina, Hong Chang, Khoon Meng Wong, Keming Yang, Xinlan Chen, Rafaela Jorge Trad, Danilo Neves, Dimitar Dimitrov, Pengshan Zhao, Xiaoting Xu, Jianquan Liu. Why are Magnoliaceae so diverse in the tropics? Disentangling the roles of diversification and time-for-speciation effects[J]. J Syst Evol.

Add to citation manager EndNote|Ris|BibTeX

URL: https://www.jse.ac.cn/EN/

[1]	Yushuang Wang, Enze Li, Jiahui Sun, Zhixiang Zhang, Wenpan Dong. Phylogenetic diversity and interspecies competition shaped species diversity in adaptive radiated Ligustrum (Oleaceae) [J]. J Syst Evol, 2025, 63(2): 229-244.
[2]	Li‐Na Zhao, Yun Liu, Jian‐Fei Ye, Bing Liu, Hai‐Hua Hu, Li‐Min Lu, Jiang Chang, Robert P. Guralnick, Miao Sun, Zhi‐Duan Chen. Flowering plants at Sino-Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau face increased extinction risk [J]. J Syst Evol, 2025, 63(1): 148-159.
[3]	Martha Kandziora, Juan M. Gorospe, Luciana Salomon, Diana L. A. Vásquez, Maria Pinilla Vargas, Filip Kolář, Petr Sklenář, and Roswitha Schmickl. The ghost of past climate acting on present-day plant diversity: Lessons from a climate-based delimitation of the tropical alpine ecosystem [J]. J Syst Evol, 2024, 62(2): 275-290.
[4]	Peter H. Raven, Zhiyun Ouyang, Paul Smith, and Mathis Wackernagel. The Shenzhen Congress and plant conservation: What have we accomplished in the 6 years since? [J]. J Syst Evol, 2023, 61(6): 949-956.
[5]	Zhe-Chen Qi, Pan Li, Jun-Jie Wu, Alexander Gamisch, Tuo Yang, Yun-Peng Zhao, Wu-Qing Xu, Shi-Chao Chen, Kenneth M. Cameron, Ying-Xiong Qiu, and Cheng-Xin Fu. Climatic niche evolution in Smilacaceae (Liliales) drives patterns of species diversification and richness between the Old and New World [J]. J Syst Evol, 2023, 61(5): 733-747.
[6]	Timothy J. Gallaher, Paul M. Peterson, Robert J. Soreng, Fernando O. Zuloaga, De-Zhu Li, Lynn G. Clark, Christopher D. Tyrrell, Cassiano A.D. Welker, Elizabeth A. Kellogg, and Jordan K. Teisher. Grasses through space and time: An overview of the biogeographical and macroevolutionary history of Poaceae [J]. J Syst Evol, 2022, 60(3): 522-569.
[7]	Abdulrokhman Kartonegoro, Sylvia Mota de Oliveira, and Peter C. van Welzen. Historical biogeography of the Southeast Asian and Malesian tribe Dissochaeteae (Melastomataceae) [J]. J Syst Evol, 2022, 60(2): 237-252.
[8]	Shan-Shan Dong, Ya-Ling Wang, Nian-He Xia, Yang Liu, Min Liu, Lian Lian, Na Li, Ling-Fei Li, Xiao-An Lang, Yi-Qing Gong, Lu Chen, Ernest Wu, and Shou-Zhou Zhang. Plastid and nuclear phylogenomic incongruences and biogeographic implications of Magnolia s.l. (Magnoliaceae) [J]. J Syst Evol, 2022, 60(1): 1-15.
[9]	Mario Rincón-Barrado, Sanna Olsson, Tamara Villaverde, Belén Moncalvillo, Lisa Pokorny, Alan Forrest, Ricarda Riina, and Isabel Sanmartín. Ecological and geological processes impacting speciation modes drive the formation of wide-range disjunctions within tribe Putorieae (Rubiaceae) [J]. J Syst Evol, 2021, 59(5): 915-934.
[10]	Meng-Hua Zhang, Chao-Yong Wang, Cheng Zhang, Dai-Gui Zhang, Ke-Gang Li, Ze-Long Nie, and Ying Meng. Phylogenetic relationships and biogeographic history of the unique Saxifraga sect. Irregulares (Saxifragaceae) from eastern Asia [J]. J Syst Evol, 2020, 58(6): 958-971.
[11]	Susy Echeverría-Londoño, Tiina Särkinen, Isabel S. Fenton, Andy Purvis, and Sandra Knapp. Dynamism and context‐dependency in diversification of the megadiverse plant genus Solanum (Solanaceae) [J]. J Syst Evol, 2020, 58(6): 767-782.
[12]	Matthew L. Knope, Vicki A. Funk, Melissa A. Johnson, Warren L. Wagner, Erin M. Datlof, Gabriel Johnson, Daniel J. Crawford, J. Mauricio Bonifacino, Clifford W. Morden, David H. Lorence, Kenneth R. Wood, Jean-Yves Meyer, and Sherwin Carlquist. Dispersal and adaptive radiation of Bidens (Compositae) across the remote archipelagoes of Polynesia [J]. J Syst Evol, 2020, 58(6): 805-822.
[13]	Yu-Bing Wang, Bin-Bin Liu, Ze-Long Nie, Hong-Feng Chen, Fa-Ju Chen, Richard B. Figlar, and Jun Wen. Major clades and a revised classification of Magnolia and Magnoliaceae based on whole plastid genome sequences via genome skimming [J]. J Syst Evol, 2020, 58(5): 673-695.
[14]	Rong Li and Juan Yue. A phylogenetic perspective on the evolutionary processes of floristic assemblages within a biodiversity hotspot in eastern Asia [J]. J Syst Evol, 2020, 58(4): 413-422.
[15]	Lu-Liang Huang, Jian-Hua Jin, Cheng Quan, and Alexei A. Oskolski. Mummified Magnoliaceae woods from the upper Oligocene of South China, with biogeography, paleoecology, and wood trait evolution implications [J]. J Syst Evol, 2020, 58(1): 89-100.

Why are Magnoliaceae so diverse in the tropics? Disentangling the roles of diversification and time-for-speciation effects

HTML

PDF

Knowledge

Abstract

Cite this article

share this article

References

Related Articles 15

Recommended Articles

Metrics

Comments