Intercontinental correlation of geographical ranges suggests stasis in ecological traits of relict genera of temperate perennial herbs
RE Ricklefs, RE Latham - The American Naturalist, 1992 - journals.uchicago.edu
Disjunct taxa within genera of herbaceous perennial plants relict to temperate eastern Asia
and eastern North America exhibit a significant correlation in area of geographical range.
This relationship suggests evolutionary stasis of traits related to ecological distribution over
periods of at least 10 million and possibly more than 30 million yr. Because woody taxa lack
this pattern but appear to exhibit broader ecological distributions on a local scale than do
herbaceous taxa, we suggest that stasis goes hand in hand with ecological specialization; …
and eastern North America exhibit a significant correlation in area of geographical range.
This relationship suggests evolutionary stasis of traits related to ecological distribution over
periods of at least 10 million and possibly more than 30 million yr. Because woody taxa lack
this pattern but appear to exhibit broader ecological distributions on a local scale than do
herbaceous taxa, we suggest that stasis goes hand in hand with ecological specialization; …
