Ding Wenna, Silvestro Daniele, Onstein Renske E, Wu Mengxiao, Zhou Zhekun, Xing Yaowu
State Key Laboratory of Plant Diversity and Specialty Crops, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, 666303, China.
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, Birmensdorf, 8903, Switzerland.
Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2025 Oct;100(5):2131-2149. doi: 10.1111/brv.70039. Epub 2025 May 30.
Angiosperms are the most diverse and abundant plant taxon today and dominate the majority of Earth's terrestrial ecosystems. They underwent rapid divergence and biogeographic expansion from the early to the middle Cretaceous. Yet, transformative ecosystem change brought about by the increased ecological dominance of angiosperms unfolded progressively until the Late Cretaceous. After the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary, angiosperms restructured terrestrial ecosystems towards a modern form. By the Neogene, crown groups that make up modern terrestrial angiosperm biodiversity radiated, and regional floristic distinctions were established concurrently with the steepened latitudinal and vertical temperature gradients. Here, we summarize, based on fossils and molecular evidence, when and how angiosperms came to diversify, dominate, and shape terrestrial ecosystems, leading to the emergence and spread of angiosperm-dominated floras. We highlight five major phases of angiosperm evolution that took place against a background of palaeogeography and climate changes. There is a consistent delay in ecological dominance after lineage origination and taxonomic diversification, as a result of which angiosperms did not achieve ecological dominance across terrestrial biomes in a single step. The patterns of diversity seen among extant angiosperms, the dominant angiosperm groups within modern ecosystems, and the restriction of different groups of angiosperms to different parts of the world, reflect the contingent nature of the process of lineage diversification in the context of long-term, substantial and ongoing environmental change. Determining the origins, diversification, and ecological dominance of angiosperms continues to be a challenge and requires elucidation of their early forms, functions, habitats, and environmental interactions throughout evolutionary history.
被子植物是当今种类最多、数量最丰富的植物类群，在地球上的大多数陆地生态系统中占据主导地位。从白垩纪早期到中期，它们经历了快速的分化和生物地理扩张。然而，被子植物生态优势增加所带来的变革性生态系统变化是逐渐展开的，一直持续到白垩纪晚期。在白垩纪 - 古近纪（K - Pg）界线之后，被子植物将陆地生态系统重塑为现代形式。到了新近纪，构成现代陆地被子植物生物多样性的冠群开始辐射分化，同时随着纬度和垂直温度梯度的加剧，区域植物区系差异也得以确立。在此，我们基于化石和分子证据，总结被子植物何时以及如何实现多样化、占据主导地位并塑造陆地生态系统，从而导致被子植物主导的植物群的出现和传播。我们强调了在古地理和气候变化背景下发生的被子植物进化的五个主要阶段。在谱系起源和分类多样化之后，生态优势存在持续的延迟，因此被子植物并非一蹴而就实现了在所有陆地生物群落中的生态主导地位。现存被子植物之间的多样性模式、现代生态系统中占主导地位的被子植物类群，以及不同被子植物类群在世界不同地区的分布限制，反映了在长期、重大且持续的环境变化背景下谱系多样化过程的偶然性。确定被子植物的起源、多样化和生态优势仍然是一项挑战，需要阐明它们在整个进化历史中的早期形态、功能、栖息地和环境相互作用。
