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Phylogeographic patterns of highland and lowland plant species in Japan

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Abstract

As a result of ecological and historical factors, plant species occurring in mountainous regions often exhibit complex phylogeographical structure. The aim of this review is to identify the main phylogeographic patterns of plant species in the Japanese Archipelago, based on 63 previous studies; in particular, the intention is to examine the effects of mountains on these patterns. We classified species into three groups based on their distribution along altitudinal gradients: alpine and sub-alpine; montane; and lowland plants. Identified patterns were diverse, but we found particular ecological/historical constraints influencing the distribution of intra-population variation and contributing to clear genetic differentiation in alpine and sub-alpine and montane species. Many alpine and sub-alpine species harbored greater variation in the highlands of central Japan, and this was the case for dominant montane species in central and western Japan. These areas are considered to have acted as refugia during the last glacial maximum. Some other highland species even survived in small refugia in northern Japan. Genetic differentiation was regularly found between either side of 38°N latitude, between the Japan Sea and the Pacific Ocean sides of the country and on either side of the Itoiga-Shizuoka Tectonic Line. Unexpectedly, strong structure has rarely been found in lowland species. Based on the observed patterns, we discuss possible reasons for the discrepancies among phylogeographical structures of different species within the same groups. In addition, the phylogeographical patterns detected are compared with floristic structures described in classical biogeographical terms.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Christian Parisod, the editor of the Botanica Helvetica for his invitation to write this article. His and two anonymous referees’ suggestions are also gratefully acknowledged. We are grateful to Dr. Li-Jiang Hu at the University of Tokyo, who provided information regarding the article by Hu et al. (2010) before its publication and Dr. Mitsuru Hotta who kindly agreed to our reuse of his figures. This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No. 19380082) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan.

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  1. Laboratory of Forest Ecosystem Studies, Department of Ecosystem Studies, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Yayoi 1-1-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8657, Japan

    Takafumi Ohsawa & Yuji Ide

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  1. Takafumi Ohsawa
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Correspondence to Takafumi Ohsawa.

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Ohsawa, T., Ide, Y. Phylogeographic patterns of highland and lowland plant species in Japan. Alp Botany 121, 49–61 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00035-010-0083-z

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