• Contact Us
    • Send Feedback
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   Home
    • Journal and Journal Articles
    • Journal and Journal Articles
    • View Item
    •   Home
    • Journal and Journal Articles
    • Journal and Journal Articles
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    Whole Repository
    CollectionsIssue DateRegionCountryHubAffiliationAuthorsTitlesSubject
    This Sub-collection
    Issue DateRegionCountryHubAffiliationAuthorsTitlesSubject

    My Account

    Login

    Welcome to the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture Research Repository

    What would you like to view today?

    Tectonics, climate and the diversification of the tropical African terrestrial flora and fauna

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    Journal Article (3.325Mb)
    Date
    2020
    Author
    Couvreur, T.L.P.
    Dauby, G.
    Blach-Overgaard, A.
    Deblauwe, V.
    Dessein, S.
    Droissart, V.
    Hardy, O.J.
    Harris, D.J.
    Janssens, S.B.
    Ley, A.C.
    Mackinder, B.A.
    Sonké, B.
    Sosef, M.S.M.
    Stévart, T.
    Svenning, J.C.
    Wieringa, J.J.
    Faye, A.
    Missoup, A.D.
    Tolley, K.A.
    Nicolas, V.
    Ntie, S.
    Fluteau, F.
    Robin, C.
    Guillocheau, F.
    Barboni, D.
    Sepulchre, P.
    Type
    Journal Article
    Review Status
    Peer Review
    Target Audience
    Scientists
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract/Description
    Tropical Africa is home to an astonishing biodiversity occurring in a variety of ecosystems. Past climatic change and geological events have impacted the evolution and diversification of this biodiversity. During the last two decades, around 90 dated molecular phylogenies of different clades across animals and plants have been published leading to an increased understanding of the diversification and speciation processes generating tropical African biodiversity. In parallel, extended geological and palaeoclimatic records together with detailed numerical simulations have refined our understanding of past geological and climatic changes in Africa. To date, these important advances have not been reviewed within a common framework. Here, we critically review and synthesize African climate, tectonics and terrestrial biodiversity evolution throughout the Cenozoic to the mid‐Pleistocene, drawing on recent advances in Earth and life sciences. We first review six major geo‐climatic periods defining tropical African biodiversity diversification by synthesizing 89 dated molecular phylogeny studies. Two major geo‐climatic factors impacting the diversification of the sub‐Saharan biota are highlighted. First, Africa underwent numerous climatic fluctuations at ancient and more recent timescales, with tectonic, greenhouse gas, and orbital forcing stimulating diversification. Second, increased aridification since the Late Eocene led to important extinction events, but also provided unique diversification opportunities shaping the current tropical African biodiversity landscape. We then review diversification studies of tropical terrestrial animal and plant clades and discuss three major models of speciation: (i) geographic speciation via vicariance (allopatry); (ii) ecological speciation impacted by climate and geological changes, and (iii) genomic speciation via genome duplication. Geographic speciation has been the most widely documented to date and is a common speciation model across tropical Africa. We conclude with four important challenges faced by tropical African biodiversity research: (i) to increase knowledge by gathering basic and fundamental biodiversity information; (ii) to improve modelling of African geophysical evolution throughout the Cenozoic via better constraints and downscaling approaches; (iii) to increase the precision of phylogenetic reconstruction and molecular dating of tropical African clades by using next generation sequencing approaches together with better fossil calibrations; (iv) finally, as done here, to integrate data better from Earth and life sciences by focusing on the interdisciplinary study of the evolution of tropical African biodiversity in a wider geodiversity context.
    https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/brv.12644
    Multi standard citation
    Permanent link to this item
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12478/7003
    IITA Authors ORCID
    Vincent Deblauwehttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-9881-1052
    Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
    https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/brv.12644
    Research Themes
    Natural Resource Management
    IITA Subjects
    Biodiversity; Climate Change; Natural Resource Management
    Agrovoc Terms
    Tropical Africa; Phylogeny; Fossils; Geology; Tectonics; Biodiversity; Climate Change; Diversification; Fauna; Flora
    Regions
    Africa; Central Africa; East Africa; Southern Africa
    Countries
    Cameroon; Gabon; Kenya; Mozambique; Republic of the Congo; Tanzania
    Hubs
    Central Africa Hub
    Journals
    Biological Reviews
    Collections
    • Journal and Journal Articles4835
    copyright © 2019  IITASpace. All rights reserved.
    IITA | Open Access Repository