Evolution of crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) as an escape from ecological niche conservatism in MalagasyBulbophyllum(Orchidaceae)

What is it about?

Still little is known about the key physiological traits underlying niche shifts in flowering plants. Our study provides the first hard viz. phylogenetic evidence that CAM in tropical epiphytes may be selectively advantageous even in high rainfall habitats and that CAM acts as an evolutionary ‘gateway’ trait that considerably widened the spatial-ecological amplitude of Malagasy Bulbophyllum.

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