Indo-Burma is a global hotspot of biodiversity in both plants and animals. However, our knowledge about the genetic diversity and pattern, as well as the underlying mechanisms among Indo-Burmese species, is extremely poor, especially for plants. Dioecious fig trees are considered a study system for disclosing the phylogeographic patterns of species in response to climatic oscillations and geological events. 

In a study published in BMC Plant Biology, researchers from Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) conducted a comparative phylogeographic analysis of dioecious Ficus hispida and Ficus heterostyla across the Indo-Burma hotspot, based on wide and intensive population sampling across Indo-Burma ranges and evidence from chloroplast and nuclear markers, as well as ecological niche modeling.  

The researchers found that both species had strong phylogeographic structure and similar spatial distributions of genetic diversity. “In particular, a conspicuous east？west differentiation pattern was disclosed firstly for the Indo-Burmese plants,” said HUANG Jianfeng, first author of the study. 

They also observed interspecific dissimilarities at fine-scale genetic structure and asynchronized historical dynamics of east-west differentiation, which can be attributed to the differences in pollen and seed dispersal syndromes. 

"Our study provides insights into the conservation of Indo-Burmese biodiversity and will facilitate targeted conservation efforts,” said PENG Yanqiong of XTBG. 

Contact 

PENG Yanqiong  Ph.D Principal Investigator    

Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Yunnan 666303, China      

E-mail: pengyq@xtbg.ac.cn  

First published: 16 June 2023