At high altitude, rivers may function as barriers for amphibians. We examined 21 populations of Scutiger boulengeri from the Hengduan Mountains with 1038 base pairs of mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequences. The haplotypes of S. boulengeri formed three clades on the gene tree, and each clade was restricted to one mountain ridge separated by two major river systems, the Yalong River and the Dadu River. The vicariant pattern of the gene tree suggests that these rivers functioned as effective barriers during population differentiation. On the other hand, mountain ridges may have facilitated amphibian movement. Populations within the uninterrupted mountain ranges of clades II and III, revealed little genetic structure. The northern clade I, harboured a substantial amount of genetic variation, which might be the consequence of the rugged terrain and heterogeneous habitat of this area. Furthermore, one outgroup species, Scutiger glandulatus, formed the fourth clade and nested within S. boulengeri, suggesting that S. boulengeri is likely a paraphyletic species or a species complex.
SummaryPleistocene climatic fluctuations may have had a profound impact on the evolutionary history of many species. The geographical pattern of European wild boar (Sus scrofa) is clearly studied, and it was greatly influenced by ancient climatic events, especially the Last Glacial Maximum. Previous research on genetic variation has mainly focused on the origin and distribution histories of domestic pigs. However, some questions have not been answered, including those concerning the genetic diversity, geographical pattern and possible historic influence of climate on East Asian wild boar (EAWB). Employing the control region of mtDNA (511 bp), we investigated the contributions of historic climate, which possibly shaped the genetic pattern of wild boar. Given that the level of genetic diversity of wild boars is higher in East Asia than in Europe, 172 haplotypes were detected from 680 individuals. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated the complex phylogeographic structure of EAWB. Mismatch analysis, neutrality tests and the Bayesian Skyline Plot results all retrieved signals of a rapid population expansion, which might have played an important role in driving the formation of complex spatial genetic structure. Genetic data and species distribution modelling showed that the Last Glacial Maximum had weak effect on the distribution of the EAWB. We suggest that, in shaping spatial genetic structure in East Asian, long‐term gene flow and population history played more important roles than Pleistocene climate fluctuations.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.