Multimodes of floral disparity versus species diversity in adaptive radiation of Petrocodon (Gesneriaceae) upon Qinghai–Tibet Plateau uplift

Abstract Adaptive radiation is usually triggered by great in situ or ex situ environmental changes. How an adaptive radiation occurs on lands and how species richness relates to morphodisparity have been a major focus of evolutionary biology. Petrocodon , diversified in the southeastern Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP), represents an ideal model to address these questions. To elucidate the dynamics of adaptive radiation of Petrocodon , we took an integrative approach, including phylogenetic, dating, disparity versus diversity, pollination, and gene expression analyses. Petrocodon with six clades has experienced radiation following the QTP uplift. Multiple modes of floral morphodisparity versus species diversity occur in the radiation process that are directly linked to their colonizing new environments and diversification with geographic expansion. Pollination and gene expression analyses suggest that accelerated emergence of de novo mutations might be relevant to the multiplex floral disparity and pollinator shifts in Petrocodon . For the first time in plants, we report that decreased genetic constraints on floral architecture triggered by QTP uplift might have generated abundant floral morphological variants, which were further targeted by selection for ecological divergence. The multiple modes of floral disparity versus species diversity may be attributed to accelerated mutations in colonizing new environments and repeated modifications of the already evolved traits in subsequent diversification and geographic expansion in Petrocodon . Our findings shed novel light on the interplay of ecological, developmental and evolutionary dynamics of disparity versus diversity in relation to trajectory changes of floral architecture in responses to environmental disturbance in a terrestrial plant group.