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Diversity of Fagaceae on Hainan Island of South China During the Middle Eocene: Implications for Phytogeography and Paleoecology
- Source :
- Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, Vol 8 (2020)
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- Frontiers Media S.A., 2020.
-
Abstract
- The Fagaceae family is currently widespread throughout tropical and temperate regions of South America and the Northern Hemisphere, especially East Asia, and has likely been so since the Eocene, according to fossil records. In China, Fagaceae fossils are rare in the lowest latitudes of South China. Here, we describe 12 species in 5 genera of Fagaceae (i.e. Berryophyllum, Castaneophyllum, Quercus, Castanopsis and Lithocarpus) based on leaf morphology and trichomes. These fossils are recovered from the Changchang Formation of Changchang Basin, Hainan Island, South China, indicating that Fagaceae has been distributed in these tropical low latitudes since the Eocene. Given that our fossils are closely related to the tropical and subtropical extant species, we speculate that Fagaceae lineages have likely diverged since the Eocene and that each extant lineage, such as Quercus sect. Cyclobalanopsis, became highly differentiated no later than middle Eocene. Based on the current living conditions of the extant species, we further speculate that the climate of Hainan Island was warm and wet during the middle Eocene, suitable for the growth and differentiation of the family.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
0301 basic medicine
lcsh:Evolution
Subtropics
Castanopsis
Phytogeography
Fagaceae
Eocene
010603 evolutionary biology
01 natural sciences
paleoecology
03 medical and health sciences
lcsh:QH540-549.5
Temperate climate
lcsh:QH359-425
East Asia
South China
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Ecology
biology
phytogeography
biology.organism_classification
030104 developmental biology
Geography
Lithocarpus
Paleoecology
lcsh:Ecology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Volume :
- 8
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....a95d1be9b0c953e3b833a71ec76e54c6