Tropical Asia is one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet and highly threatened – including four global biodiversity hotspots within the region. With over 10,000 species in fours orders (Canellales, Laurales, Magnoliales and Piperales), Magnoliids is the third most diverse clade of Angiosperms, after monocots and eudicots. Within Magnoliids, Annonaceae is one of the largest families with over 2,500 species distributed across the tropics with highest species diversity in South East (SE) Asia. These clades have a mainly pantropical distribution making it an excellent model to investigate how tropical lineages have diversified through time and space, and answer broader questions relating to tropical systems e.g. what are the major drivers of hyperdiversity in tropical rain forests? Here, we present a near-complete genus-level phylogenomic dataset of Magnoliids and near-complete species-level phylogeny of Annonaceae (> 2000 species included), obtained through high-throughput sequencing hybrid capture approaches. We performed a series of diversification analyses to investigate diversification history of these clades at a broad scale across the tropics. Our phylogenomic dataset provides a robust framework for further systematic and macroevolutionary studies of Magnoliids and Annonaceae. In addition, we utilise an inter-disciplinary approach: integrating novel spatial, morphological, and paleo-climatic data with phylogenetics to better understand the evolution and macro-ecological dynamics of Tropical Asian biodiversity at a global level. The key phylogenomic and diversification results from this study, as well as implications, ongoing work, and research prospects will be discussed.
Macroevolution dynamics of tropical Asia, with a focus on the diverse tropical plant lineage Magnoliids and Annonaceae