Plastid phylogenomics of tribe Perseeae (Lauraceae) yields insights into the evolution of East Asian subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests

Background: The East Asian subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests (EBLFs) harbor remarkable biodiversity. However, their historical assembly remains unclear. To gain new insights into the assembly of this biome, we generated a molecular phylogeny of one of its essential elements, the tribe Perseeae (Lauraceae). Results: Our plastid tree topologies were robust to analyses based on different plastid regions, data partitioning, nucleotide substitution saturation and gap handling strategies. We found that Perseeae comprised six major clades and started to colonize the subtropical EBLFs of east Asia in the early Miocene. The diversification rates of Perseeae accelerated twice in the late Miocene. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the intensified precipitation in East Asia in the early Miocene might have facilitated range expansions of the drought-sensitive subtropical EBLFs and establishment of Perseeae within this biome. By the late Miocene, assembly and diversification withi...研究背景：东亚亚热带常绿阔叶林（East Asian subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests, EBLFs）孕育着极为丰富的生物多样性，但其历史群落装配过程仍不明确。为深入解析该生物群系的装配机制，我们针对其核心组成类群之一——樟科（Lauraceae）鳄梨族（Perseeae），构建了分子系统发育树。 研究结果：基于不同质体区域、数据分区、核苷酸替换饱和性及序列缺口处理策略的分析均证实，本研究获得的质体系统发育树拓扑结构具有良好的稳健性。结果显示，鳄梨族包含6个主要演化支，并于中新世早期开始定居于东亚亚热带常绿阔叶林；该类群的分化速率在中新世晚期经历了两次加速。 研究结论：本研究结果表明，中新世早期东亚地区降水增强可能促进了对干旱敏感的东亚亚热带常绿阔叶林的分布范围扩张，以及鳄梨族在该生物群系中的定殖。至中新世晚期，其群落组装与分化withi...