Browsing by Autor "Felipe Zapata"

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A new species of Escallonia (Escalloniaceae) from the inter-Andean tropical dry forests of Bolivia
(PeerJ, Inc., 2019) Felipe Zapata; Daniel Villarroel
Over the last two decades, renewed fieldwork in poorly explored areas of the tropical Andes has dramatically increased the comparative material available to study patterns of inter- and intraspecific variation in tropical plants. In the course of a comprehensive study of the genus Escallonia, we found a group of specimens with decumbent branching, small narrowly elliptic leaves, inflorescences with up to three flowers, and flowers with red petals. This unique combination of traits was not present in any known species of the genus. To evaluate the hypothesis that these specimens belonged to a new species, we assessed whether morphological variation between the putative new species and all currently known Escallonia species was discontinuous. The lack of overlap in tolerance regions for vegetative and reproductive traits combined with differences in habit, habitat, and geographic distribution supported the hypothesis of the new species, which we named Escallonia harrisii. The new species grows in sandstone inter-Andean ridges and cliffs covered with dry forest, mostly on steep slopes between 1,300-2,200 m in southern Bolivia. It is readily distinct in overall leaf and flower morphology from other Escallonia species in the region, even though it does not grow in sympatry with other species. Because E. harrisii is locally common it may not be threated at present, but due to its restricted geographic distribution and the multiple threats of the tropical dry forests it could become potentially vulnerable.
Caldas meets Janzen: Thermal regimes of montane plants and implications for global patterns of speciation
(2024) Adriana Sánchez; Ignacio Quintero; Sara Pedraza; Diana Bonilla; Lúcia G. Lohmann; Carlos Daniel Cadena; Felipe Zapata
Abstract The seasonality hypothesis posits that limited seasonal temperature variability in tropical mountains leads to greater climatic zonation along elevation gradients compared to temperate regions. This is predicted to result in narrow thermal tolerances and restricted dispersal for organisms, which may reduce gene flow and increase opportunities for climate-associated parapatric or allopatric speciation in tropical mountains relative to temperate-zone mountains. This hypothesis has been tested in various animal groups but not in plants. We examine the elevational and thermal ranges of pairs of sister species of angiosperms from mountains worldwide. Our findings indicate no significant difference in the breadth and overlap of elevational ranges between tropical and temperate species. However, tropical species have narrower thermal ranges and show greater similarity in these ranges between sister species compared to temperate ones. Such narrow thermal specialization in tropical plants facilitates population divergence and allopatric speciation within thermal zones more than in temperate species.
Peer Review #2 of "A new species of Escallonia (Escalloniaceae) from the inter-Andean tropical dry forests of Bolivia (v0.1)"
(2019) Felipe Zapata; Daniel Villarroel; Gabriel Ren; Moreno; Petal; Apg; R Pennington; J Beaulieu; B O'meara; K De Queiroz
Over the last two decades, renewed fieldwork in poorly explored areas of the tropical Andes has dramatically increased the comparative material available to study patterns of inter-and intraspecific variation in tropical plants.In the course of a comprehensive study of the genus Escallonia, we found a group of specimens with decumbent branching, small narrowly elliptic leaves, inflorescences with up to three flowers, and flowers with red petals.This unique combination of traits was not present in any known species of the genus.To evaluate the hypothesis that these specimens belonged to a new species, we assessed whether morphological variation between the putative new species and all currently known Escallonia species was discontinuous.The lack of overlap in tolerance regions for vegetative and reproductive traits combined with differences in habit, habitat, and geographic distribution supported the hypothesis of the new species, which we named Escallonia harrisii.The new species grows in sandstone inter-Andean ridges and cliffs covered with dry forest, mostly on steep slopes between 1,300 -2,200 m in southern Bolivia.It is readily distinct in overall leaf and flower morphology from other Escallonia species in the region, even though it does not grow in sympatry with other species.Because E. harrisii is locally common it may not be threated at present, but due to its restricted geographic distribution and the multiple threats of the tropical dry forests it could become potentially vulnerable.