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Summary: The Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) sensu lato (sl), comprising the platform, the Himalaya and the Hengduan Mountains, is characterized by a large number of endemic plant species. This evolutionary cradle may have arisen from explosive species diversification because of geographic isolation. However, gene flow has been widely detected during the speciation processes of all groups examined, suggesting that natural selection may have also played an important role during species divergence in this region. In addition, natural hybrids have been recovered in almost all species‐rich genera. This suggests that numerous species in this region are still 'on the speciation pathway to complete reproductive isolation (RI)'. Such hybrids could directly develop into new species through hybrid polyploidization and homoploid hybrid speciation (HHS). HHS may take place more easily than previously thought through alternate inheritance of alleles of parents at multiple RI loci. Therefore, isolation, selection and hybridization could together have promoted species diversification of numerous plant genera on the QTP sl. We emphasize the need for identification and functional analysis of alleles of major genes for speciation, and especially encourage investigations of parallel adaptive divergence causing RI across different lineages within similar but specific habitats in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Divergence during the early stage of speciation can be driven by a population bottleneck via reduced gene flow and enhanced lineage sorting. In this study, we aimed to examine whether such bottlenecks occurred during the initial speciation of two closely related spruce species Picea asperata and P. crassifolia occurring on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP). We analyzed sequences of three chloroplast, two mitochondrial DNA fragments and a further 13 nuclear loci from 216 individuals of the two species. Both species showed a low level of genetic diversity in contrast to other congeners occurring in the QTP and adjacent regions. The estimated population sizes of P. asperata and P. crassifolia are less than the ancestral population size before splitting. These results together with multiple statistical tests (Tajima's D, Fu and Li's D* and F*) suggest that these two species underwent recent bottlenecks. Based on approximate Bayesian computation (ABC), we also determined that the period of the population shrinkage was consistent with the interspecific divergence during the late Pleistocene. The reduced population sizes and the divergent selection may together have triggered the initial divergence under high gene flow between these two species. Our results therefore highlight the importance of climatic oscillations during the late Pleistocene in promoting speciation through changing demographic sizes of the ancestral species on the QTP and in adjacent regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]