Format: ORAL

Daniel Spalink1, Pedro Jimnez-Mejas2,3, Tamara Villaverde4, Santiago Martn-Bravo5, Marcial Escudero6, Katie Sanbonmatsu1, Jos I. Mrquez-Corro5, Isabel Larridon7,8, Eric Roalson9, Kenneth J. Sytsma10, and Andrew L. Hipp11,12

1. Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA 2. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain 3.), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain 4. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain 5. Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain 6. University of Seville, Seville, Spain 7. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, UK 8. Ghent University, Gent, Belgium 9. Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, USA 10. University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA 11. The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL, USA 12. The Field Museum, Chicago, IL USA

The processes of speciation and assembly are inextricably linked. Diversification drivers vary among clades and are often determined by the geographic context where speciation is occurring. We should therefore expect patterns of assembly to be influenced by spatially variable speciation dynamics. We use the globally distributed, mega-diverse genus Carex(Cyperaceae) to test the hypothesis that both drivers of diversification and assembly are spatially varied, such that observed patterns of phylogenetic diversity and endemism are determined by context-specific physiological traits associated with individual lineages and the ecological conditions of different geographic areas. We used 4.35 million museum records, a global Carex phylogeny, historical biogeographical estimations, and rate analyses to test for spatially structured correlations to diversification and patterns of assembly using structural equation modeling. We find that all previously hypothesized drivers of diversification in the genus are associated with elevated speciation rates. However, these drivers have interacted in different combinations in different geographical areas, with no two regions exhibiting the same combination of drivers. This has resulted in spatially varied patterns of phylogenetic diversity and endemism. Our results demonstrate that integrating analyses of diversification and assembly with spatial scaling improves the resolution at which we can understand the origins and distribution of our extant biodiversity.