The asynchronous rise of Northern Hemisphere alpine floras reveals general responses of biotic assembly to orogeny and climate change

Understanding how biotic assembly processes responded to past geoclimatic changes is key to explaining the origins of mountain biodiversity and the causes of regional disparities in species richness. Here, we jointly reconstructed geographic ranges and biome-niche evolution for 34 diverse plant clades across five major Northern Hemisphere mountain systems and quantified how late Neogene cooling increased arctic-alpine habitat connections across regions. We reveal that, while alpine floras originated asynchronously and were assembled through distinct evolutionary processes over the past 30 million years, general biological responses to orogeny and environmental change are apparent. Across regions, in situ diversification was consistently elevated during heightened phases of tectonic activity. Over the past 5 million years, enhanced arctic-alpine connectivity facilitated biotic interchange and positioned the boreal-arctic region as a major biogeographic crossroads linking Eurasia and North America.

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Publication Details

Journal
Science Advances
Published
2025-12-19
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adz1888
Citations
2
Primary Topic
Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
2.60
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article

The asynchronous rise of Northern Hemisphere alpine floras reveals general responses of biotic assembly to orogeny and climate change

Dirk Nikolaus Karger, Yaowu Xing, Philipp Brun, Niklaus E. Zimmermann et al.
2 citations
Science Advances
Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
2.60
article

The asynchronous rise of Northern Hemisphere alpine floras reveals general responses of biotic assembly to orogeny and climate change

Dirk Nikolaus Karger, Yaowu Xing, Philipp Brun, Niklaus E. Zimmermann, Richard H. Ree, Alexander Skeels, Michael R. May, Loïc Pellissier, Wenna Ding, Oskar Hagen
article en
2 citations

Abstract

Understanding how biotic assembly processes responded to past geoclimatic changes is key to explaining the origins of mountain biodiversity and the causes of regional disparities in species richness. Here, we jointly reconstructed geographic ranges and biome-niche evolution for 34 diverse plant clades across five major Northern Hemisphere mountain systems and quantified how late Neogene cooling increased arctic-alpine habitat connections across regions. We reveal that, while alpine floras originated asynchronously and were assembled through distinct evolutionary processes over the past 30 million years, general biological responses to orogeny and environmental change are apparent. Across regions, in situ diversification was consistently elevated during heightened phases of tectonic activity. Over the past 5 million years, enhanced arctic-alpine connectivity facilitated biotic interchange and positioned the boreal-arctic region as a major biogeographic crossroads linking Eurasia and North America.

Science AdvancesVol. 11(51)
Goethe University Frankfurt (DE), Australian National University (AU), Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (CH), Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (CN), Field Museum of Natural History (US), Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (DE), Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (AU), University of California, Davis (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 9%
Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
2.60
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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