@article{TEXTUAL,
      recid = {13849},
      author = {Rana, Suresh K. and Price, Trevor D. and Qian, Hong},
      title = {Plant species richness across the Himalaya driven by  evolutionary history and current climate},
      journal = {Ecosphere},
      address = {2019-11-21},
      number = {TEXTUAL},
      abstract = {The Himalaya, the world's largest mountain chain, spans a  wide variety of climates. Further, different locations have  historically experienced climatic perturbations to  different degrees. This makes it the ideal region to assess  roles of contemporary climate, diversification (speciation  minus extinction), and dispersal barriers in affecting  local species richness. Based on a review of all available  Himalayan floras, we determined that 8765 native angiosperm  species are presently documented and recorded their  location and elevational distributions. We compared species  richness and measures of phylogenetic structure in 100-m  elevational bands for all species combined and for three  major life-forms separately (trees, shrubs, and herbs)  across the Himalaya. Species richness declines threefold  from the east to the northwest of the Himalaya. Along  elevational gradients, tree richness monotonically declines  in the northwest, but peaks at ~1000 m in the east. Shrubs  and herbs peak in richness at mid-elevations (~2000 m).  Mean temperature and annual precipitation together explain  ~60% of the variation in species richness. The general  phylogenetic pattern observed in this study is that  phylogenetic clustering (i.e., more closely related species  on fewer long branches) increases from low to high  elevations, but with a dip at mid-elevations (2000–3000 m),  which may result from a mixing of distinct floras, but is  not associated with exceptionally high richness. High  clustering at higher elevations (3000–4500 m) and in the  drier northwest suggests ongoing diversification dynamics  limit richness in these harsher environments. The effects  of diversification dynamics appear to be smaller than those  of contemporary climate in limiting buildup of species  numbers.},
      url = {http://knowledge.uchicago.edu/record/13849},
}