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Diversity
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Diversity and Paleoecological History of Saxifraga
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Diversity and Paleoecological History of Saxifraga

A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Diversity".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2020) | Viewed by 3599

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Eric DeChaine

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, USA
Interests: Saxifraga; arctic–alpine; Beringia; biogeography; climate change; endemism; phylogeography; Quaternary; speciation; systematics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Members of the genus Saxifraga L. (Saxifragaceae Juss.) are characteristic and foundational plants of arctic and montane–alpine regions in the Northern Hemisphere, with centers of diversity in the Sino-Himalayan ranges, the Caucasus and the Alps, and the Arctic. The genus began to diversify approximately 30 million years ago and is now subdivided into 13 sections with approximately 450 species, including many narrow endemics. Species of Saxifraga are morphologically diverse, displaying a remarkable variety of growth forms, vegetative characters, and reproductive attributes. In addition, chromosome numbers vary widely across taxa. This Special Issue highlights new research exploring the historic drivers of diversification, such as orogenic uplift, paleoclimatic cycles, geographic isolation, hybridization, polyploidy, environmental changes, and biotic interactions, which have given rise to the wonderful diversity of saxifrages that we observe today.

Prof. Eric DeChaine
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Saxifraga
  • Speciation
  • Paleoecology
  • Biogeographic history
  • Environmental change
  • Arctic–alpine
  • Refugia
  • Hybridization
  • Vegetative and reproductive morphology

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

18 pages, 2523 KiB  
Review
The Role of Hybridisation in the Making of the Species-Rich Arctic-Alpine Genus Saxifraga (Saxifragaceae)
by Jana Ebersbach, Natalia Tkach, Martin Röser and Adrien Favre
Diversity 2020, 12(11), 440; https://doi.org/10.3390/d12110440 - 23 Nov 2020
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 3121
Abstract
Evolutionary processes fuelling rapid species diversification are not yet fully understood, although their major contribution to overall patterns of plant biodiversity is well established. Hybridisation is among the least understood of these processes, despite its multifaceted role in speciation processes being widely accepted. [...] Read more.
Evolutionary processes fuelling rapid species diversification are not yet fully understood, although their major contribution to overall patterns of plant biodiversity is well established. Hybridisation is among the least understood of these processes, despite its multifaceted role in speciation processes being widely accepted. Species of the large arctic-alpine genus Saxifraga are notorious for their ability to hybridise; however, the overall role of hybridisation and polyploidisation for the diversification of this genus remains unknown. Here, we provide a comprehensive genus-wide review of hybridisation accounts and ploidy levels. We find that the sections of Saxifraga vary greatly in their propensity to hybridise. The majority of natural hybridisation accounts are from recent localised events (n = 71). Hybridisation hotspots were located in the Pyrenees and the European Alps, thus contrasting with the overall distribution of species richness in the genus. Hybrids or hybrid populations are often short-lived in Saxifraga due to a multitude of reproductive barriers, most commonly low F1 hybrid fertility. However, these barriers are not always fully effective, allowing for backcrossing and the formation of hybrid swarms. In addition, we find that the incidence of polyploidy varies widely across different sections of Saxifraga, with species-rich sections Porphyrion and Saxifraga showing divergent polyploidy proportions. Overall, we show that hybridisation and polyploidisation played differential roles in the diversification of this large genus. Nevertheless, a significant proportion of species are yet to be scrutinised, particularly among the Asian Saxifraga species, illustrating the need for systematic further study to fully unravel the role of hybridisation during the evolution of Saxifraga. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diversity and Paleoecological History of Saxifraga)
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