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Comparative Analysis of Diversification Rates in Clonal and Non‐Clonal Flowering Plants

Sonia Kadyan; Jitka Klimešová; Dimitar Dimitrov; Zhiheng Wang; Jan Smyčka; Tomáš Herben
Ecology Letters · Vol. 29, Issue 6 · 2026

Abstract

Clonality, the process of vegetative reproduction through belowground organs (rhizomes, stolons), occurs in about half of all plant species. It influences key ecological and evolutionary phenomena, including effective population size, meiosis frequency and genet longevity, which may affect diversification rates. This study investigates how clonality impacts diversification in angiosperms by comparing clonal, mixed and non‐clonal genera. Using genus‐level phylogeny and data on clonal status of 16,465 species across 2997 genera, we estimated speciation and net diversification rates for each genus with MoM, DR and BAMM. Our results reveal lower diversification rates in clonal genera in non‐phylogenetic models, consistent with the hypothesis that clonality constrains diversification. This effect weakens when accounting for phylogenetic non‐independence but remains significant overall. We show that monocots show a slightly stronger effect of clonality on diversification than eudicots. Our findings suggest that clonality may limit long‐term diversification in angiosperms, influencing evolutionary dynamics where clonal reproduction predominates.

Bibliographic Information

JournalEcology Letters
PublisherWiley
Publication Date2026-06-01
Publication Year2026
Volume29
Issue6
Document TypeJournal Article
Print ISSN1461-023X
eISSN1461-0248
DOI10.1111/ele.70423
SubjectEcology & Organismal Biology

Access Information

NARA Access Coverage1998-01-01~Current
Journal Homepagehttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/loi/14610248
Publisher PageOpen Publisher Page
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