{"id":3285,"date":"2015-12-09T11:44:32","date_gmt":"2015-12-09T09:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/?p=3285"},"modified":"2020-11-17T15:52:04","modified_gmt":"2020-11-17T13:52:04","slug":"from-the-neotropics-to-the-namib","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/from-the-neotropics-to-the-namib\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Neotropics to the Namib: evidence for diversification following extreme long-distance dispersal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The role of extreme long-distance dispersal (ELDD) has been neglected in shaping the global distribution of flowering plants. This is partly because of the rarity of such events. Recently a renewed interest in ELDD has surfaced, as new tools have become available to identify ELDD events.<\/p>\n

Balloon vines, in the genus Cardiospermum, <\/em>are mainly found in South and Central America, with one native species, C. pechuelii, <\/em>found in Namibia’s Namib Desert. A recent study by C\u00b7I\u00b7B student, Enelge Gildenhuys identified a second species native to southern Africa, C. corindum<\/em>. What makes this finding perculiar is the fact that C. corindum <\/em>is also considered native to South America. This led Gildenhuys to ask what the genetic relationships are between the Namib endemic, C. pechuelii<\/em>, and C. corindum <\/em>from southern Africa and South America.<\/em><\/p>\n

Using phylogenetic and population genetic approaches, Gildenhuys showed that C. corindum <\/em>in southern Africa represents a natural ELDD event from South America. Seeds of balloon vines can float in seawater and remain viable for months, fitting Gildenhuys’ hypothesis of intercontinental trans-oceanic dispersal. More interestingly, Gildenhuys found that while C. corindum <\/em>from both continents are morphologically more similar to each other than they are to Namibian C. pechuelii<\/em>, and that African C. corindum <\/em>are genetically more closely related to C. pechuelii <\/em>than to South American C. corindum<\/em>. These findings suggest that the desert-adapted C. pechuelii <\/em>likely evolved from C. corindum <\/em>following trans-oceanic dispersal from South America.<\/em><\/p>\n

This study highlights the importance of ELDD events by showing how a subtropical species from South America spread across the ocean to arrive in the Namib Desert in southern Africa and gave rise to a new desert-adapted species.<\/p>\n

Read the paper<\/h4>\n

Gildenhuys, E., Ellis, A.G., Carroll, S. and Le Roux, J.J. (2015) From the Neotropics to the Namib: evidence for rapid ecological divergence following extreme long-distance dispersal. Bot J Linn Soc. 179(3),\u00a0477\u2013486.<\/a><\/p>\n

For more information, contact Enelge Gildenhuys at enelge.gildenhuys@gmail.com<\/a>, or Jaco Le Roux at jleroux@sun.ac.za<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Morphological
Morphological and environmental characteristics of Cardiospermum corindum (A\u2013C) and Cardiospermum pechuelii (D\u2013F) in their native ranges in Namibia: leaf morphology (A, D); fruit morphology (B, E); and habitats occupied: the savannah Waterberg region (C) and rocky outcrops of the Namib Desert (F). (Photo credit: Jaco Le Roux)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The role of extreme long-distance dispersal (ELDD) has been neglected in shaping the global distribution of flowering plants. This is partly because of the rarity of such events. Recently a renewed interest in ELDD has surfaced, as new tools have become available to identify ELDD events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":3286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[73242,3256],"tags":[75996,75997,75998,72960],"class_list":["post-3285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2015-news","category-news","tag-balloon-vine","tag-cardiospermum","tag-endemic","tag-speciation","entry","has-media"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3285"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3288,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3285\/revisions\/3288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}