Paleobotanical Diversity and Climate Change in Southeast Asia
Summary
The tropical forests of Southeast Asia harbour one of the richest records of plant evolution and environmental change on Earth. Fossil leaves, pollen assemblages and amber inclusions chronicle the emergence, diversification and migration of key lineages, notably the Dipterocarpaceae, which dominate modern rainforests. Variations in species composition through the Cenozoic reflect episodic shifts in temperature, rainfall and monsoon intensity driven by global greenhouse events, plate collisions and sea-level fluctuations. Palynological records reveal alternations between warm temperate, semi-evergreen and fully tropical communities, while amber and macrofossil deposits capture snapshots of ancient forest structure and faunal associations. Insights into whole-genome duplications, lineage divergence and genetic adaptation to drought stress underscore how deep-time climatic perturbations have shaped extant biodiversity. Understanding these patterns is vital for forecasting forest resilience under accelerating anthropogenic warming and for guiding restoration and conservation strategies across one of the world’s most threatened biomes.
Research from Nature Portfolio
Recent studies have provided unprecedented genomic perspectives on dominant Southeast Asian trees. Genome sequencing of Shorea leprosula uncovered a whole-genome duplication event near the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary and revealed that retained gene duplicates are enriched for drought-responsive functions, highlighting molecular legacies of historical moisture stress in aseasonal rainforests. Comparative phylogenomic analyses of several dipterocarp species using next-generation sequencing of plastome and nuclear loci have resolved deep and shallow divergences within the family, demonstrating low genomic diversity among range-edge populations and informing conservation priorities as the region faces more frequent extreme weather.
Paleobotanical Diversity and Climate Change in Southeast Asia publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in paleobotanical diversity and climate change in southeast asia across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Palynology: the study of fossil pollen and spores to reconstruct ancient vegetation and environmental conditions.
Plastome: the complete chloroplast genome found in plant cells, used to infer evolutionary relationships.
Phylogenomics: the application of genome-scale data to resolve phylogenetic relationships among species.
Whole-genome duplication: an event in which an organism doubles its entire set of genetic material, often prompting lineage diversification.
Paleoflora: the assemblage of fossilised plant remains that characterise a specific geological period.
References
- The genome of Shorea leprosula (Dipterocarpaceae) highlights the ecological relevance of drought in aseasonal tropical rainforests. Communications Biology (2021).
- Exploring evolution and diversity of Chinese Dipterocarpaceae using next-generation sequencing. Scientific Reports (2019).
- At a crossroads: The late Eocene flora of central Myanmar owes its composition to plate collision and tropical climate. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology (2021).
- Mid-Tertiary paleoenvironments in Thailand: pollen evidence. Climate of the Past (2010).
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