The Amazonian rainforest is arguably the most species-rich terrestrial ecosystem in the
world, yet the timing of the origin and evolutionary causes of this diversity are a matter of …

This review suggests that the ecology and patchy global distribution of seasonally dry
tropical forest (SDTF) has distinctively structured the evolutionary history and biogeography …

Abstract The Neotropical region (tropical America) is the most species rich region on Earth.
Several causes have been proposed to explain this extraordinary biodiversity, which may be …

Recent phylogenetic studies have revealed the major role played by the uplift of the Andes
in the extraordinary diversification of the Neotropical flora. These studies, however, have …

Molecular phylogenetic studies have become a major area of interest in plant systematics,
and their impacts on historical biogeographic hypotheses are not to be disregarded. In …

This paper and this issue attempt to address how, when and why the phenomenal c.
100,000 species of seed plants in tropical America (the Neotropics) arose. It is increasingly …

About 3 million years ago (Ma), the I sthmus of P anama joined the A mericas, forming a land
bridge over which inhabitants of each A merica invaded the other—the G reat A merican B …

The exceptional levels of biodiversity found today in the American tropics are the outcome of
tens of millions of years of evolution, shaped by the tumultuous geological history of the …

Background Understanding how biodiversity is shaped through time is a fundamental
question in biology. Even though tropical rain forests (TRF) represent the most diverse …

Rain forests represent the world's richest repository of terrestrial biodiversity, and play a
major role in regulating the global climate. They support the livelihoods of a substantial …