Plant Diversification Patterns in the Indomalesian, Australasian and Pacific Island Region (Eocene to Pliocene)

The project deals with the diversification of three (angiosperm) plant genera (Aglaia, Dysoxylum, Hoya) in the Indomalesian, Australasian and Pacific islands region, and includes all-species phylogenetic reconstructions. Like the project Cedreleae, this project also makes extensive use of herbarium specimens. Methods used involve Bayesian analyses, including molecular clock approaches (calibration of nodes by fossil data), and Maximum Parsimony as well as Maximum Likelihood analyses, all based on DNA sequences of ITS (nuclear marker) and different plastid markers, like e.g. the psbA-trnH region. The study also includes ancestral area analyses (area-based biogeographical approach; event-based approach, like e.g. dispersal vicariance analyses) and georeferencing of distribution data. Using dated phylogenetic trees and distribution information, we want to test whether the climatic/ecological niches were constant over time or changed in different lineages. Finally, we are interested in the correlation between the distribution of plant species and their animal-vectors. Temporal coverage: Eocene to Pliocene Data type: DNA sequences; phylogenetic trees (derived from Bayesian, Maximum Likelihood, and Maximum Parsimony analyses), georeferenced distribution data of the taxa.