title: Reproductive niche conservatism in the isolated New Zealand flora over 23 million years.
abstract: The temporal stability of plant reproductive features on islands has rarely been tested. Using flowers, fruits/cones and seeds from a well-dated (23 Ma) Miocene Lagerstätte in New Zealand, we show that across 23 families and 30 genera of forest angiosperms and conifers, reproductive features have remained constant for more than 20 Myr. Insect-, wind- and bird-pollinated flowers and wind- and bird-dispersed diaspores all indicate remarkable reproductive niche conservatism, despite widespread environmental and biotic change. In the past 10 Myr, declining temperatures and the absence of low-latitude refugia caused regional extinction of thermophiles, while orogenic processes steepened temperature, precipitation and nutrient gradients, limiting forest niches. Despite these changes, the palaeontological record provides empirical support for evidence from phylogeographical studies of strong niche conservatism within lineages and biomes.
authors.affiliation: ACEBB & SGC, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, DX 650-312, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia john.conran@adelaide.edu.au.
authors.forename: John G
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2268-2703
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Conran
authors.affiliation: Landcare Research, Private Bag 1930, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1010, New Zealand.
authors.forename: William G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Geology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Daphne E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Jennifer M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bannister
authors.affiliation: Department of Geology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Kaulfuss
mesh_terms: D005075:Biological Evolution; D002980:Climate; D065928:Forests; D005580:Fossils; D019684:Magnoliopsida; D009520:New Zealand; D010802:Phylogeny; D058974:Phylogeography; D054817:Pollination / Q000502:physiology*; D012098:Reproduction; D013997:Time Factors; D064028:Tracheophyta
keywords: flowers; fossils; fruits; islands; niche conservatism; reproduction