Gail Reeves

TL;DR: This work shows taxon richness to be decoupled from PD, using a biome-wide phylogenetic analysis of the flora of an undisputed biodiversity hotspot—the Cape of South Africa and demonstrates that PD protection is the best strategy for preserving feature diversity in the Cape.

TL;DR: It is shown that a well-supported clade within the Aizoaceae, representing 1,563 species almost exclusively endemic to southern Africa, has diversified very recently and very rapidly, and it is proposed that species-poor clades lacking these features are key innovations that facilitated this radiation.

TL;DR: The results indicate that diversification began approximately 7–8 Myr ago, coincident with extensive aridification caused by changes in ocean currents, and shows that large continental bursts of speciation can occur rapidly over timescales comparable to those previously associated with oceanic island radiations.

TL;DR: In the combined tree, all subfamilies were resolved as monophyletic, except Nivenioidae that formed a grade in which Ixioideae were embedded, and this subfamily also lacks clear morphological synapomorphies and is highly heterogeneous, so it is difficult to develop a strong case on nonmolecular grounds for their monophyly.

TL;DR: Dating the nodes of the phylogenetic tree using non-parametric rate smoothing with a calibration point derived from broad dating of the angiosperms indicates that the divergence between Moraea and its sister genus Ferraria occurred about 25 mya in the early Miocene.