Untangling species diversification on islands: The role of traits

Due their isolation and well-defined boundaries, islands have been considered excellent case studies to unravel evolutionary process that have shaped present’s day biodiversity. However, one of the unresolved key questions in biodiversity research is why some animal and plant lineages have radiated spectacularly, while others remained species-poor or did not radiate at all. To solve this long-standing problem, we want to develop a new theoretical island model that investigates the impact of potential key traits on speciation and extinction of species, using the most abundant plant family on islands (sunflower family) and the best studied archipelago (Canary Islands).