In global phytogeography and evolutionary biology, the tropical rainforest flora of the Western Ghats exhibits strong disjunct generic affinities with the rainforest ecosystems of which distant global region due to ancient Gondwanan land connections?

💡 Solution & Explanation

The Western Ghats share significant floristic and faunal links with Madagascar and Southeast Asia, reflecting the ancient fragmentation and drift of the Gondwana supercontinent during the Mesozoic era. Boreal and tundra regions possess entirely different evolutionary lineages adapted to cold climates. Gondwanan vicariance explains many plant family distributions observed across tropical southern landmasses.