Diversity hotspots of the laurel forest on Tenerife, Canary Islands: a phylogeographic study of Laurus and Ixanthus

Background and Aims Macaronesian laurel forest is among the worldwide hotspots of threatened biodiversity. With increasing evidence that woodland composition on the Canary Islands changed dramatically during the last few thousand years, the aim of this study was to find evidence for substantial recent population dynamics of two representative species from laurel forest