What is it about?
Variation in species diversity among lineages is a major feature of evolution. However, factors affecting species diversification remain largely unexplored, specially in plants. Here, we analyzed the ecological niches, body sizes and species diversity in tree ferns, the second largest group of living ferns with over 90 million years of evolutionary history.
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Why is it important?
Our results show that increased species diversification has been mirrored by rapidly evolving ecological niches and body sizes. This highlights the relevance of ecological and morphological evolution to understanding the current patterns of plant diversity across the tropics.
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This page is a summary of: Rates of ecological divergence and body size evolution are correlated with species diversification in scaly tree ferns, Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences, July 2016, Royal Society Publishing,
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2016.1098.
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