Comparative multi-locus phylogeography confirms multiple vicariance events in co-distributed rainforest frogs

Proc Biol Sci. 2012 Mar 7;279(1730):991-9. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2011.1229. Epub 2011 Sep 7.

Abstract

Though Pleistocene refugia are frequently cited as drivers of species diversification, comparisons of molecular divergence among sister species typically indicate a continuum of divergence times from the Late Miocene, rather than a clear pulse of speciation events at the Last Glacial Maximum. Community-scale inference methods that explicitly test for multiple vicariance events, and account for differences in ancestral effective population size and gene flow, are well suited for detecting heterogeneity of species' responses to past climate fluctuations. We apply this approach to multi-locus sequence data from five co-distributed frog species endemic to the Wet Tropics rainforests of northeast Australia. Our results demonstrate at least two episodes of vicariance owing to climate-driven forest contractions: one in the Early Pleistocene and the other considerably older. Understanding how repeated cycles of rainforest contraction and expansion differentially affected lineage divergence among co-distributed species provides a framework for identifying evolutionary processes that underlie population divergence and speciation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Anura / genetics
  • Anura / physiology*
  • Australia
  • Bayes Theorem
  • DNA, Mitochondrial / chemistry
  • Gene Flow
  • Markov Chains
  • Phylogeography*
  • Population Density
  • Population Dynamics
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Tropical Climate

Substances

  • DNA, Mitochondrial