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Background and Aims Quantifying spatial species richness is useful to describe biodiversity patterns across broad geographical areas, especially in large, poorly known plant groups. We explore patterns and predictors of species richness across Africa in one such group, the palaeotropical genus Grewia L. (Malvaceae). Methods Grewia species richness was quantified by extracting herbarium records from GBIF and Tropicos and creating geographical grids at varying spatial scales. We assessed predictors of species richness using spatial regression models with 30 environmental variables. We explored species co-occurrence in Madagascar at finer resolutions using Schoener's index and compared species range sizes and International Union for Conservation of Nature status among ecoregions. Lastly, we derived a trait matrix for a subset of species found in Madagascar to characterize morphological diversity across space. Key Results Grewia species occur in 50 countries in Africa, with the highest number of species in Madagascar (93, with 80 species endemic). Species richness is highest in Madagascar, with ≤23 Grewia species in a grid cell, followed by coastal Tanzania/Kenya (≤13 species) and northern South Africa and central Angola (11 species each). Across Africa, higher species richness was predicted by variables related to aridity. In Madagascar, a greater range in environmental variables best predicted species richness, consistent with geographical grid cells of highest species richness occurring near biome/ecoregion transitions. In Madagascar, we also observe increasing dissimilarity in species composition with increasing geographical distance. Conclusions The spatial patterns and underlying environmental predictors that we uncover in Grewia represent an important step in our understanding of plant distribution and diversity patterns across Africa. Madagascar boasts nearly twice the Grewia species richness of the second most species-rich country in Africa, which might be explained by complex topography and environmental conditions across small spatial scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

H arrisonia, a genus of three or more species distributed from tropical Africa and Southeast Asia to northern Australia, has long been considered a member of Simaroubaceae. Recent molecular analyses, however, have shown that the genus is assigned to subfamily Cneoroideae of Rutaceae, in which Cneoroideae (eight genera) are sister to the remainder of the family ('core Rutaceae'). Here, we report embryological features of H arrisonia based on published and newly obtained data and provide morphological corroboration for the molecular affinities of the genus and Cneoroideae. We compared its embryological features with those of seven other genera of Cneoroideae and with those of the core Rutaceae and related families (Meliaceae, Simaroubaceae and Sapindaceae). Comparisons showed that H arrisonia fits within Cneoroideae through possessing campylotropous seeds with a multi-cell-layered endotesta. Embryological evidence, like molecular evidence, further shows that, in Cneoroideae, H arrisonia probably has affinities to a group of B ottegoa, C edrelopsis, C neorum and P taeroxylon by sharing a micropyle formed by the inner integument alone and solitary oil cells in the testa. Except for H arrisonia, Cneoroideae are still poorly understood embryologically and further investigations are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims Tecophilaeaceae (27 species distributed in eight genera) have a disjunct distribution in California, Chile and southern and tropical mainland Africa. Moreover, although the family mainly occurs in arid ecosystems, it has colonized three Mediterranean-type ecosystems. In this study, the spatio-temporal history of the family is examined using DNA sequence data from six plastid regions. Methods Modern methods in divergence time estimation (BEAST), diversification (LTT and GeoSSE) and biogeography (LAGRANGE) are applied to infer the evolutionary history of Tecophilaeaceae. To take into account dating and phylogenetic uncertainty, the biogeographical inferences were run over a set of dated Bayesian trees and the analyses were constrained according to palaeogeographical evidence. Key Results The analyses showed that the current distribution and diversification of the family were influenced primarily by the break up of Gondwana, separating the family into two main clades, and the establishment of a Mediterranean climate in Chile, coinciding with the radiation of Conanthera. Finally, unlike many other groups, no shifts in diversification rates were observed associated with the dispersals in the Cape region of South Africa. Conclusions Although modest in size, Tecophilaeaceae have a complex spatio-temporal history. The family is now most diverse in arid ecosystems in southern Africa, but is expected to have originated in sub-tropical Africa. It has subsequently colonized Mediterranean-type ecosystems in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, but well before the onset of the Mediterranean climate in these regions. Only one lineage, genus Conanthera, has apparently diversified to any extent under the impetus of a Mediterranean climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims The coffee genus (Coffea) comprises 124 species, and is indigenous to the Old World Tropics. Due to its immense economic importance, Coffea has been the focus of numerous genetic diversity studies, but despite this effort it remains insufficiently studied. In this study the genetic diversity and genetic structure of Coffea across Africa and the Indian Ocean islands is investigated. Methods Genetic data were produced using 13 polymorphic nuclear microsatellite markers (simple sequence repeats, SSRs), including seven expressed sequence tag-SSRs, and the data were analysed using model- and non-model-based methods. The study includes a total of 728 individuals from 60 species. Key Results Across Africa and the Indian Ocean islands Coffea comprises a closely related group of species with an overall pattern of genotypes running from west to east. Genetic structure was identified in accordance with pre-determined geographical regions and phylogenetic groups. There is a good relationship between morpho-taxonomic species delimitations and genetic units. Genetic diversity in African and Indian Ocean Coffea is high in terms of number of alleles detected, and Madagascar appears to represent a place of significant diversification in terms of allelic richness and species diversity. Conclusions Cross-species SSR transferability in African and Indian Ocean islands Coffea was very efficient. On the basis of the number of private alleles, diversification in East Africa and the Indian Ocean islands appears to be more recent than in West and West-Central Africa, although this general trend is complicated in Africa by the position of species belonging to lineages connecting the main geographical regions. The general pattern of phylogeography is not in agreement with an overall east to west (Mascarene, Madagascar, East Africa, West Africa) increase in genome size, the high proportion of shared alleles between the four regions or the high numbers of exclusive shared alleles between pairs or triplets of regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of the complex geoclimatic dynamics of the Mediterranean basin, resulting from a combination of Tertiary geological processes and Quaternary climatic oscillations, the current species composition of the main continental islands is a mosaic resulting from relative contribution of vicariance, geodispersal and long-distance dispersal by seed. To help distinguish among the contributions of these different dispersal modes to the orchid species richness on the island of Sardinia, we investigated the genetic structure and phylogeographic relationship of the only Platanthera bifolia var . kuenkelei population on the island. By using plastid DNA sequence variation, we show that this recently discovered population is more closely related to the Tunisian P. bifolia var . kuenkelei than to the geographically closer P. bifolia populations from peninsular Italy. Results from haplotype network construction support the hypothesis that the current distribution of P. bifolia var . kuenkelei (Sardinia and Tunisia) is most likely explained by over-sea dispersal. However, haplotype diversity and mismatch analysis of this unique Sardinian population suggest that, if a long-distance dispersal event did occur, it was not recent. More likely, temporarily favourable climatic conditions generated a suitable habitat on the island (also in terms of suitable mycorrhizas and pollinators) and thus a transient opportunity for seedling growth and population establishment of P. bifolia var . kuenkelei from North Africa. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 167, 466-475. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]