The Southwest Australian Floristic Region: Evolution and Conservation of a Global Hot Spot of Biodiversity

Like South Africa's Greater Cape Floristic Region, the Southwest Australian Floristic Region (SWAFR) is species rich, with a Mediterranean climate and old, weathered, nutrient-deficient landscapes. This region has 7380 native vascular plants (species/subspecies): one third described since 1970,...

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Published inAnnual review of ecology, evolution, and systematics Vol. 35; pp. 623 - 650
Main Authors Hopper, Stephen D., Gioia, Paul
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Annual Reviews 31.12.2004
Subjects
Biodiversity conservation
Biological taxonomies
Evolution
Flora
Plants
Rain
Speciation
Species
Taxa
Wildlife conservation
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Summary:Like South Africa's Greater Cape Floristic Region, the Southwest Australian Floristic Region (SWAFR) is species rich, with a Mediterranean climate and old, weathered, nutrient-deficient landscapes. This region has 7380 native vascular plants (species/subspecies): one third described since 1970, 49% endemic, and 2500 of conservation concern. Origins are complex. Molecular phylogenies suggest multiple dispersal events into, out of, and within the SWAFR throughout the Cretaceous and Cenozoic; in many phylogenetically unrelated clades; and from many directions. Either explosive speciation or steady cladogenesis occurred among some woody sclerophyll and herbaceous families from the mid-Tertiary in response to progressive aridity. Genomic coalescence was sometimes involved. Rainforest taxa went extinct by the Pleistocene. Old lineages nevertheless persist as one endemic order (Dasypogonales) and 6-11 endemic families. Such a rich flora on old landscapes that have been exposed to European land-use practices is highly threatened. Conservation programs must minimize soil removal and use local germplasm in restoration programs.
ISSN:1543-592X
1545-2069
DOI:10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.34.011802.132535