TY - JOUR
T1 - In defence of the entity of Macaronesia as a biogeographical region
AU - Fernández-Palacios, José María
AU - Otto, Rüdiger
AU - Capelo, Jorge
AU - Caujapé-Castells, Juli
AU - de Nascimento, Lea
AU - Duarte, Maria Cristina
AU - Elias, Rui B.
AU - García-Verdugo, Carlos
AU - Menezes de Sequeira, Miguel
AU - Médail, Frédéric
AU - Naranjo-Cigala, Agustín
AU - Patiño, Jairo
AU - Price, Jonathan
AU - Romeiras, Maria M.
AU - Sánchez-Pinto, Lázaro
AU - Whittaker, Robert J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). Biological Reviews published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Cambridge Philosophical Society.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Since its coinage ca. 1850 AD by Philip Barker Webb, the biogeographical region of Macaronesia, consisting of the North Atlantic volcanic archipelagos of the Azores, Madeira with the tiny Selvagens, the Canaries and Cabo Verde, and for some authors different continental coastal strips, has been under dispute. Herein, after a brief introduction on the terminology and purpose of regionalism, we recover the origins of the Macaronesia name, concept and geographical adscription, as well as its biogeographical implications and how different authors have positioned themselves, using distinct terrestrial or marine floristic and/or faunistic taxa distributions and relationships for accepting or rejecting the existence of this biogeographical region. Four main issues related to Macaronesia are thoroughly discussed: (i) its independence from the Mediterranean phytogeographical region; (ii) discrepancies according to different taxa analysed; (iii) its geographical limits and the role of the continental enclave(s), and, (iv) the validity of the phytogeographical region level. We conclude that Macaronesia has its own identity and a sound phytogeographical foundation, and that this is mainly based on three different floristic components that are shared by the Macaronesian core (Madeira and the Canaries) and the outermost archipelagos (Azores and Cabo Verde). These floristic components are: (i) the Palaeotropical-Tethyan Geoflora, formerly much more widely distributed in Europe and North Africa and currently restricted to the three northern archipelagos (the Azores, Madeira and the Canaries); (ii) the African Rand Flora, still extant in the coastal margins of Africa and Arabia, and present in the southern archipelagos (Madeira, the Canaries and Cabo Verde), and (iii) the Macaronesian neoendemic floristic component, represented in all the archipelagos, a result of allopatric diversification promoted by isolation of Mediterranean ancestors that manage to colonize Central Macaronesia and, from there, the outer archipelagos. Finally, a differentiating floristic component recently colonized the different archipelagos from the nearest continental coast, providing them with different biogeographic flavours.
AB - Since its coinage ca. 1850 AD by Philip Barker Webb, the biogeographical region of Macaronesia, consisting of the North Atlantic volcanic archipelagos of the Azores, Madeira with the tiny Selvagens, the Canaries and Cabo Verde, and for some authors different continental coastal strips, has been under dispute. Herein, after a brief introduction on the terminology and purpose of regionalism, we recover the origins of the Macaronesia name, concept and geographical adscription, as well as its biogeographical implications and how different authors have positioned themselves, using distinct terrestrial or marine floristic and/or faunistic taxa distributions and relationships for accepting or rejecting the existence of this biogeographical region. Four main issues related to Macaronesia are thoroughly discussed: (i) its independence from the Mediterranean phytogeographical region; (ii) discrepancies according to different taxa analysed; (iii) its geographical limits and the role of the continental enclave(s), and, (iv) the validity of the phytogeographical region level. We conclude that Macaronesia has its own identity and a sound phytogeographical foundation, and that this is mainly based on three different floristic components that are shared by the Macaronesian core (Madeira and the Canaries) and the outermost archipelagos (Azores and Cabo Verde). These floristic components are: (i) the Palaeotropical-Tethyan Geoflora, formerly much more widely distributed in Europe and North Africa and currently restricted to the three northern archipelagos (the Azores, Madeira and the Canaries); (ii) the African Rand Flora, still extant in the coastal margins of Africa and Arabia, and present in the southern archipelagos (Madeira, the Canaries and Cabo Verde), and (iii) the Macaronesian neoendemic floristic component, represented in all the archipelagos, a result of allopatric diversification promoted by isolation of Mediterranean ancestors that manage to colonize Central Macaronesia and, from there, the outer archipelagos. Finally, a differentiating floristic component recently colonized the different archipelagos from the nearest continental coast, providing them with different biogeographic flavours.
KW - Azores
KW - biogeographical regionalization
KW - Cabo Verde
KW - Canaries
KW - floristic relationships
KW - island biogeography
KW - island endemism
KW - Macaronesia
KW - Madeira
KW - phytogeography
U2 - 10.1111/brv.13112
DO - 10.1111/brv.13112
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 38888215
AN - SCOPUS:85196313035
VL - 99
SP - 2060
EP - 2081
JO - Biological Reviews
JF - Biological Reviews
SN - 1464-7931
IS - 6
ER -