Exploring the different facets of plant endemism in the South ‐Eastern Carpathians: a manifold approach for the determination of biotic elements, centres and areas of endemism

In the European Alpine System, the Carpathian Mountains are recognized as one of the major centres of diversity and endemism. In the present study, we aimed to explain the spatial structure of plant endemism in its South‐Eastern subunit by the complementary use of diversity indices, parsimony analysis of endemicity (PAE), biotic element analysis (BEA), and barrier analysis. We analyzed the available information on 111 plant taxa confined to the South‐Eastern Carpathians, mapped using two different sets of operational geographical units (OGUs): 71 geomorphological units and 64 quadrats. Our results showed that centres of endemics diversity largely corresponded to the areas of endemism and biotic elements. PAE consensus cladogram outlined four major areas of endemism (with three nested ones): (1) Danubian; (2) western part of the Southern Carpathians; (3) eastern part of the Southern Carpathians; and (4) Pocutico‐Marmarossian. Out of the seven identified biotic elements, five were spatially clustered and overlapped the major areas of endemism, with one notable exception: the calcareous massifs from the Eastern Carpathians, not identified through PAE. Conversely, the latter outlined a nested area of endemism (Cozia – Buila‐Vânturarița), omitted by BEA. Barrier analysis identified three major breaks in the distribution of endemics: (1) south of the Retezat – Țarcu – Godeanu mountain group; (2) north of the Piatra Craiului – Bucegi – Ciucaș mountain group; an...

Source: Biological Journal of the Linnean Society - August 31, 2016 Category: Research Authors: Bogdan ‐Iuliu Hurdu, Tania Escalante, Mihai Pușcaș, Andrew Novikoff, László Bartha, Niklaus E. Zimmermann Tags: Original Article Source Type: research