Fig. 3
From: The Sino-Himalayan flora evolved from lowland biomes dominated by tropical floristic elements
Temporal changes in floristic elements and endemic taxa of the Sino-Himalayan angiosperm flora in relation to geologic events and climate changes during four formation periods. a Major factors driving the establishment of the Sino-Himalayan angiosperm flora. The four formation periods and three major shifts are shown in Fig. 2. The red line refers to the Himalaya uplift, which began in the Early Paleocene, and accelerated in the Miocene (adapted from [48]). The blue line presents monsoon conditions indicated by the modeled mean annual precipitation for each geologic stage (modified from [49]). The gray curve represents the estimated deep ocean temperature as an indicator of global climate changes (according to [50]). K, Cretaceous; Pli., Pliocene; Plt., Pleistocene; QU., Quaternary. b The percentage of genera belonging to four floristic elements diverged during the four formation periods in the Sino-Himalayan flora is shown in histograms with different colors. The black line represents the ratio of tropical (H) to temperate (T) floristic elements (HTratio). HTratio = (H-T)/(H + T). HTratio < 0, temperate floristic elements are dominant in the studied period; HTratio > 0, tropical floristic elements are dominant in the studied period. c Changes in divergence of endemic genera and species in the Sino-Himalayan angiosperm flora over time. The percentage of diverged endemic genera and species is shown by a dotted line and solid line, respectively. d Ordinal time-tree with major angiosperm clades indicated. The photos of extant plants show the representative taxa of each floristic element of the Sino-Himalayan flora. The five differently colored borders of the photos correspond to the four types of floristic elements in panel b; endemic taxa are indicated in black. From top to bottom, the genera in the photos are: Roscoea, Paraquilegia, Akebia, Gynocardia, Delavaya, Cotinus, Thylacospermum, Rhododendron, Kalopanax, and Acronema. Photo credits: Paraquilegia (Boka Li); Akebia, Acronema (Ze Wei); Delavaya (Xinxin Zhu), Rhododendron (Zi Wang). Other photos are from Bing Liu