Back to the past: revisiting the biogeographic history of neotropical rainforests and their connections

Resumo

The high biological diversity observed in the tropical rainforests is a fact that intrigues researchers around the world, especially about to historical processes responsible for their origin and maintenance. For Neotropical rainforests is no different. Here, we revisited the main hypotheses about the origins and changes in Neotropical rainforests over time, based on different studies as paleoclimatic, fossil pollen, phylogeographic, ecological models and evolution, in order to synthesize its biogeographical history and advancing in debate about its connections and preterit fragmentations. Evidence suggests that there is no single cause able to shape the biodiversity of these environments. In reality, the complexity seems to be the rule in this region, inferred by several hypotheses and many specific for each studied taxonomic group.