Escarpment evolution drives the diversification of the Madagascar flora. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38330102/)

These scientists wanted to understand why Madagascar, an island off the coast of Africa, has so many different types of plants and animals that can't be found anywhere else in the world. They studied the land and how it changes over time.

Madagascar has lots of mountains and valleys, and the plants and animals that live there have been evolving and changing for millions of years. The scientists used a special computer program to simulate what happens to the land when it rains a lot. They found out that when it rains, the water can wash away some of the land, making the mountains smaller and creating new valleys.

This changing land creates different habitats for plants and animals. Some areas become isolated, meaning that plants and animals living there can't easily move to other places. Over a very long time, this isolation can cause new species to form, because the plants and animals in these isolated places have to adapt to their specific environment.

But sometimes, the land changes again and the isolated areas become connected once more. This can happen over millions of years. When this happens, plants and animals from different areas can mix and create even more new species.

So, the scientists discovered that the changing land on Madagascar, caused by erosion and the movement of water, is one of the reasons why there are so many different types of plants and animals on the island.

Liu Y., Wang Y., Willett SD., Zimmermann NE., Pellissier L. Escarpment evolution drives the diversification of the Madagascar flora. Science. 2024 Feb 9;383(6683):653-658. doi: 10.1126/science.adi0833. Epub 2024 Feb 8.