{"paper_id":"41e0db41-0d15-472c-91f2-cc2f88b68561","body_text":"This is a Preprint and has not been peer reviewed. This is version 1 of this Preprint.\nYou must log in to post a comment.\nThere are no comments or no comments have been made public for this article.\nThis is a Preprint and has not been peer reviewed. This is version 1 of this Preprint.\nAdd a Comment\nYou must log in to post a comment.\nComments\nThere are no comments or no comments have been made public for this article.\nOceanic islands’ unique biodiversity often arises from woody plant radiations derived from non-woody continental ancestors. Since Darwin, various theories have tried to explain the evolution of woodiness on islands (insular woodiness). Recently, frequent volcanic activity and burial of vegetation by volcanic ash (tephra) depositions were linked to the abundance of woody species on islands. In a chronosequence of five tephra fields on the island of La Palma (Canary Islands), we found a trend towards woody growth form, providing first evidence that volcanism favors woody species. Endemic insular woody species prevail on young fields, whereas woody species with woody colonizers become dominant on older fields. High similarity in functional traits is detected between fields. This highlight that endemic insular woody species show increased colonization and establishment ability on extreme habitats after volcanic eruptions, illustrating acquired functional advantages of endemic lineages that evolved woodiness on islands and sheds light on the role of environmental filtering during evolution.\nhttps://doi.org/10.32942/X21W8X\nEcology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences\nPublished: 2026-01-24 05:37\nLast Updated: 2026-01-24 05:37\nCC BY Attribution 4.0 International\nConflict of interest statement:\nNone.\nData and Code Availability Statement:\nOpen data/code are not available, but will be made upon submission.\nLanguage:\nEnglish","source_license":"CC-BY-4.0","license_restricted":false}