Record #343604 - GSI Repository

HIMALAYA

The interplay of Himalayan uplift, climate change and plant diversification: a key to conserve one of the world's richest flora

Grant period	2024-01-15 - 2026-01-14
Funding body	European Union
Call number	HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01
Grant number	101108953
Identifier	G:(EU-Grant)101108953

Note: The recent International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC-AR6) report warns that high mountains in Asia will witness a drastic rise in temperature, precipitation and reduced snow cover by the middle of the 21st century, which will seriously threaten its rich biodiversity. The Himalaya, the highest mountain chain on Earth and one of the world’s most biodiverse regions, spans two biodiversity hotspots that are particularly sensitive to anthropogenic activities. Despite the effects of a changing environment, the evolution of present-day biodiversity patterns remain poorly explored. Previous research has mainly focused on orogenesis and monsoons as key factors governing the assembly of regional diversity, while their relative roles on species diversification are less explored or studied separately. Few eco-evolutionary studies exist for Himalaya, and most of them are based on the inferences from time-calibrated phylogenetic trees of single taxa or simplistically link node ages to contested uplift phases. This project aims to generate a new paleoelevation profile for the Himalayan mountains. For this, it will: i) Disentangle the relative roles of mountain uplift, temperature and precipitation through a macroevolutionary analysis of four selected plant lineages in conjunction with a newly developed paleoelevation reconstruction (by assessing fossil pollen assemblages and testing the chemical composition of selected taxa); ii) integrate macroevolution and uplift history with species distribution models to identify areas of high speciation; iii) assess the impact of future climate changes on these hotspots. The cross-disciplinary approach (involving paleobotany, phylogeny, macroevolution, and species distribution modeling) is unique for the Himalaya region. The project will provide novel insights into understanding the pace of the Himalayan uplift and its influences on plant diversification, and conservation strategies to preserve its unique biodiversity.

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Record created 2023-08-27, last modified 2023-08-27

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