Evolution of High Diversity in Tropics and Alpine Regions

The tropics and alpine regions rank among the most species-rich environments on Earth, yet the processes that generate and sustain their exceptional diversity remain a central puzzle in evolutionary biology. Both systems act as natural laboratories: the tropics through their vast age, climatic stability, and structural complexity, and alpine regions through steep environmental gradients, isolation, and rapid ecological turnover. Understanding why diversity accumulates so dramatically in these settings speaks directly to fundamental questions about speciation, adaptation, and the assembly of biological communities. Thus, comparing patterns between tropical and alpine systems offers a powerful way to test whether similar diversity outcomes arise from shared or contrasting evolutionary mechanisms.Advances in phylogenetics, historical biogeography, and diversification analysis now allow researchers to reconstruct the deep-time and spatial dynamics behind these diversity hotspots with unprecedented resolution. By linking evolutionary history to present-day distributions, these approaches reveal how geological events, climatic shifts, dispersal, and in-situ radiation have shaped the tree of life across taxa and continents. Conservation adds urgency to this agenda. Many of the lineages and landscapes that hold this diversity are among the most threatened by climate change and habitat loss, making an evolutionary understanding of their origins essential for setting protection priorities. Insights into how diversity arose can directly inform which lineages, regions, and processes most warrant safeguarding.This Research Topic welcomes review papers, single-taxon studies, and multi-taxon analyses that advance our understanding of how high biological diversity evolves in tropical and alpine regions. We encourage contributions spanning plants, animals, and other groups, and across geographic scales. Themes of interest include, but are not limited to:- Phylogenetic reconstruction of diverse tropical and alpine lineages- Historical biogeography and the role of geological and climatic drivers- Patterns and rates of diversification, including radiations and speciation processes- Comparative studies contrasting tropical and alpine diversity dynamics- Integration of evolutionary history with conservation priorities for threatened taxa and regionsBy bringing together evolutionary and conservation perspectives, this Research Topic aims to deepen our understanding of the origins of biodiversity in Earth’s richest and most fragile environments. Topic editors: Sandeep Sen, Sreetama Bhadra, Andressa Cabral Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/83627/evolution-of-high-diversity-in-tropics-and-alpine-regions