Results

Publication on the evolutionary history of the Eurasian steppe belt - review:

Hurka et al. (2019, Turczaninowia, 22: 5-71)

The first case study was concerned with Krascheninnikovia ceratoides. The desert-like dry areas of Asia are the home of this plant, which expanded with the spread of the steppe from Asia to Europe in the later Tertiary and Quaternary. Krascheninnikovia ceratoides tolerates great drought and has a wide temperature amplitude. This allowed it to spread in the dry-cold open vegetation types of the ice ages, which makes it a “winner” of the ice ages. The range extension of K. ceratoides from its area of diversification in the Altai Mountains region and Central Asia occurred in various waves, to the west at least twice, first as a diploid, and later as a tetraploid.

Publications on Krascheninnikovia ceratoides:

Seidl et al. (2020, Flora 262: 151504)

Seidl et al. (2021, Sci. Rep. 11: 6645)

The second case study was concerned with Onobrychis arenaria, which shows some similarities with K. ceratoides but differs in other aspects. Similarities are its age of diversification in the later Tertiary/early Quaternary, the extension of its distribution to the east, i.e., across the Altai Mountains region to Central Asia (Mongolia), and the multiple incidences of polyploidisation events. Onobrychis arenaria differs from K. ceratoides by its ecological requirements (it is growing in meadow steppes and mountain steppes) and its area of origin in the region surrounding the Black Sea.

The third and fourth case studies were concerned with Adonis vernalis and Astragalus austriacus, two characteristic steppe and forest-steppe species with European-Western Siberian distribution (but not across the Altai Mountains to the east). The patterns in both of these species turned out to be very similar to each other, but very different from those in K. ceratoides and O. arenaria. First, molecular dating revealed a younger age of the Pontic-Pannonian-Central European-West Siberian lineage of the two species, most probably after the Mid-Pleistocene Transition at around 0.9 million of years ago. Second and maybe related to their younger age, both species are entirely diploid. In both species, the Pontic-Pannonian-Central European-West Siberian lineage started its range expansion from the region north and/or west of the Black Sea (including the Carpathian region). Adonis vernalis seems to have (re-)colonized the Western Siberian region east of the Ural Mountains postglacially.

Publication on Adonis vernalis: Seidl et al. (2022, Sci. Rep. 12: 19074)

Publication on Astragalus austriacus: Maylandt, Seidl et al. (2024, Perspect. Plant Ecol. Evol. Syst. 64: 125800)

The manuscript on Onobrychis arenaria is currently in preparation.

Cooperation on Capsella: Žerdoner Čalasan et al. (2021, Ecol. Evol. 11: 12697-12713)