Conceptual and empirical advances in Neotropical biodiversity research

PeerJ

article

Alexandre Antonelli¹  María Ariza¹  James Albert⁶  Tobias Andermann¹  Josué Azevedo¹  Christine Bacon¹  Søren Faurby¹  Thais Guedes¹  Carina Hoorn⁹  Lúcia G. Lohmann^1,11  Pável Matos-Maraví¹  Camila D. Ritter¹  Isabel Sanmartín^1,13  Daniele Silvestro¹  Marcelo Tejedor¹  Hans ter Steege^1,17  Hanna Tuomisto^1,19  Fernanda P. Werneck^2,20  Alexander Zizka¹  Scott V. Edwards² 

[1] Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg;Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre;Gothenburg Botanical Garden;Department of Organismic Biology and Evolutionary Biology, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University;Laboratory Ecologie et Biologie des Interactions, Team “Ecologie, Evolution, Symbiose”, Université de Poitiers;Department of Biology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette;Federal University of São Paulo;Museum of Zoology, University of São Paulo;Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam;Universidad Regional Amazonica IKIAM;Instituto de Biociências, Departamento de Botânica, Universidade de São Paulo;Integrative Biology, University of California;Real Jardin Botanico;Department of Computational Biology, University of Lausanne;Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics;Instituto Patagónico de Geología y Paleontología;Naturalis Biodiversity Center;Systems Ecology, Free University;Department of Biology, University of Turku;Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia;Gothenburg Centre for Advanced Studies in Science and Technology, Chalmers University of Technology and University of Gothenburg

关键词: Biogeography;    Biotic diversification;    Landscape evolution;    Phylogeny;    Scale;    Biodiversity;    Community ecology;    Phylogeography;    Phylogenetics;    Tropics;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.5644

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

The unparalleled biodiversity found in the American tropics (the Neotropics) has attracted the attention of naturalists for centuries. Despite major advances in recent years in our understanding of the origin and diversification of many Neotropical taxa and biotic regions, many questions remain to be answered. Additional biological and geological data are still needed, as well as methodological advances that are capable of bridging these research fields. In this review, aimed primarily at advanced students and early-career scientists, we introduce the concept of “trans-disciplinary biogeography,” which refers to the integration of data from multiple areas of research in biology (e.g., community ecology, phylogeography, systematics, historical biogeography) and Earth and the physical sciences (e.g., geology, climatology, palaeontology), as a means to reconstruct the giant puzzle of Neotropical biodiversity and evolution in space and time. We caution against extrapolating results derived from the study of one or a few taxa to convey general scenarios of Neotropical evolution and landscape formation. We urge more coordination and integration of data and ideas among disciplines, transcending their traditional boundaries, as a basis for advancing tomorrow’s ground-breaking research. Our review highlights the great opportunities for studying the Neotropical biota to understand the evolution of life.

【 授权许可】

CC BY