Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Part I General perspectives
- Part II Regional floristic and animal diversity
- 9 Tropical montane cloud forests in Malaysia: current state of knowledge
- 10 Montane cloud forests on remote islands of Oceania: the example of French Polynesia (South Pacific Ocean)
- 11 Tropical lowland cloud forest: a neglected forest type
- 12 Altitudinal zonation and diversity patterns in the forests of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
- 13 The outstandingly speciose epiphytic flora of a single strangler fig (Ficus crassiuscula) in a Peruvian montane cloud forest
- 14 Comparative structure, pattern, and tree traits of laurel cloud forests in Anaga, northern Tenerife (Canary Islands) and in lauro-fagaceous forests of central Japan
- 15 Temperature and humidity as determinants of the transition from dry pine forest to humid cloud forests in the Bhutan Himalaya
- 16 The importance of cloud forest sites in the conservation of endemic and threatened species of the Albertine Rift
- 17 The mountain tapir (Tapirus pinchaque) and Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus): two charismatic, large mammals in South American tropical montane cloud forests
- 18 Cloud forests in East Africa as evolutionary motors for speciation processes of flightless Saltatoria species
- 19 Diversity of geometrid moths in two Neotropical rain forests
- Part III Hydrometeorology of tropical montane cloud forest
- Part IV Nutrient dynamics in tropical montane cloud forests
- Part V Cloud forest water use, photosynthesis, and effects of forest conversion
- Part VI Effects of climate variability and climate change
- Part VII Cloud forest conservation, restoration, and management issues
- References
18 - Cloud forests in East Africa as evolutionary motors for speciation processes of flightless Saltatoria species
from Part II - Regional floristic and animal diversity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 May 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Part I General perspectives
- Part II Regional floristic and animal diversity
- 9 Tropical montane cloud forests in Malaysia: current state of knowledge
- 10 Montane cloud forests on remote islands of Oceania: the example of French Polynesia (South Pacific Ocean)
- 11 Tropical lowland cloud forest: a neglected forest type
- 12 Altitudinal zonation and diversity patterns in the forests of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
- 13 The outstandingly speciose epiphytic flora of a single strangler fig (Ficus crassiuscula) in a Peruvian montane cloud forest
- 14 Comparative structure, pattern, and tree traits of laurel cloud forests in Anaga, northern Tenerife (Canary Islands) and in lauro-fagaceous forests of central Japan
- 15 Temperature and humidity as determinants of the transition from dry pine forest to humid cloud forests in the Bhutan Himalaya
- 16 The importance of cloud forest sites in the conservation of endemic and threatened species of the Albertine Rift
- 17 The mountain tapir (Tapirus pinchaque) and Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus): two charismatic, large mammals in South American tropical montane cloud forests
- 18 Cloud forests in East Africa as evolutionary motors for speciation processes of flightless Saltatoria species
- 19 Diversity of geometrid moths in two Neotropical rain forests
- Part III Hydrometeorology of tropical montane cloud forest
- Part IV Nutrient dynamics in tropical montane cloud forests
- Part V Cloud forest water use, photosynthesis, and effects of forest conversion
- Part VI Effects of climate variability and climate change
- Part VII Cloud forest conservation, restoration, and management issues
- References
Summary
ABSTRACT
High mountains in East Africa are characterized by high biodiversity and a high degree of endemism, especially in the insect group Saltatoria (grasshoppers, locusts, and katydids). A conspicuous feature of most high mountains in the region is that they harbor arrays of closely related species within various flightless genera of Saltatoria. This chapter compares inventories of Saltatoria in different mountain massifs of contrasting geologic age in East Africa at the species and genus level. Speciation processes and possible migration events are discussed in detail for Aerotegmina, a highly specialized canopy dweller in cloud forests. Climatic fluctuations and topographic features within the landscape are the driving forces of speciation processes in flightless Saltatoria on East African high mountains. Cloud forests appear particularly suited to examine speciation processes because during times of more extensive forest cover they are sufficiently interconnected but at the same time isolated enough to allow speciation of taxa with narrow habitat demands. During migration events young volcanoes offered more niches for species than did geologically older areas, but at the genus level geologically young areas exhibited greater similarity. At the species level geographic neighborship is of greater relevance in terms of species congruence.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Tropical Montane Cloud ForestsScience for Conservation and Management, pp. 182 - 191Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011