Aim Across angiosperm families, the area occupied by a family is strongly correlated with its richness. We explore the causes of this area-richness correlation using the cosmopolitan family, Cyperaceae Juss., as a model. We test the hypothesis that, despite a proposed tropical origin, temperate lineages in the family diversified at elevated rates. We test the hypothesis that the area-richness c...

In high-diversity communities, rare species encounter one another infrequently and therefore may compete more intensely with common species or guilds for limiting space and resources. In addition, rare species may be strongly recruitment limited because of their low abundances. Under these conditions, stochastic dispersal and immigration history can have an important influence on community stru...

The sedges (family Cyperaceae) are an economically and ecologically important monocot group dating back at least to the Paleocene. While modern genera are mostly unknown before the Oligocene, several extinct taxa are recognized as the earliest sedges. Their affinities have been unclear until now, because they are found as isolated, often abraded fruits or endocarps. Exceptionally preserved sedg...

0 Subalpine meadow communities are in~uenced by edaphic and microclimatic gradi! ents\ and should be a}ected by climate change that a}ects these local controls[ We used pollen preserved in meadow soils to investigate the long!term interaction of these factors in a 0!ha subalpine meadow in the Olympic Mountains\ Washington\ USA[ 1 To describe the spatial scale at which soil pollen is related to ...