Ancient orogenic and monsoon-driven assembly of the world’s richest temperate alpine flora

Abstract

Origins of an alpine flora The evolution of high mountain floras is strongly influenced by tectonic and climatic history. Ding et al. document the timing, tempo, and mode by which the world's most species-rich alpine flora, that of the Tibet-Himalaya-Hengduan region, was assembled. Alpine assemblages in the region are older than previously thought, with lineages tracing their alpine ancestry to the early Oligocene—older than any other modern alpine system. Alpine species diversified faster during periods of orogeny and intensification of the Asian monsoon, and the Hengduan Mountains—the most species-rich area in this region—played a key biogeographic role as the location of the earliest pulse of alpine diversification in the Oligocene. Science , this issue p. 578