Coexistence of cryptic<i>Brachionus calyciflorus</i>(Rotifera) species: roles of environmental variables

Wen, Xin-Li; Xi, Yi-Long; Zhang, Gen; Xue, Yadong; Xiang, Xian-Ling

doi:10.1093/plankt/fbw006

Cited by 27 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Comprehensive studies of rotifer distributions are common, but vary widely in their focus. For example, many emphasize long-term, ecological questions across several water bodies [125][126][127][128], the dynamics in a particular lake [129][130][131][132][133][134] or region [13,14,117,[135][136][137][138][139][140], or examine a single taxon [141][142][143][144][145][146][147][148]. Collectively, such studies provide insight into the biogeography of the phylum.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of Rotifer Diversity in the Chihuahuan Desert

et al. 2020

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Desert aquatic systems are widely separated, lack hydrologic connections, and are subject to drought. However, they provide unique settings to investigate distributional patterns of micrometazoans, including rotifers. Thus, to understand rotifer biodiversity we sampled 236 sites across an array of habitats including rock pools, springs, tanks, flowing waters, playas, lakes, and reservoirs in the Chihuahuan Desert of the USA (n = 202) and Mexico (n = 34) over a period of >20 years. This allowed us to calculate diversity indices and examine geographic patterns in rotifer community composition. Of ~1850 recognized rotifer species, we recorded 246 taxa (~13%), with greatest diversity in springs (n = 175), lakes (n = 112), and rock pools (n = 72). Sampling effort was positively related to observed richness in springs, lakes, rivers, and tanks. Nestedness analyses indicated that rotifers in these sites, and most subsets thereof, were highly nested (support from 4 null models). Distance was positively correlated with species composition dissimilarity on small spatial scales. We predicted species richness for unsampled locations using empirical Bayesian kriging. These findings provide a better understanding of regional rotifer diversity in aridlands and provide information on potential biodiversity hotspots for aquatic scientists and resource managers.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of Rotifer Diversity in the Chihuahuan Desert

et al. 2020

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“…A number of studies (Cheng et al., ; Li et al., ; Wen et al., ; Xiang et al., ) have documented temporal dynamics of coexisting phylogenetically divergent lineages within natural communities. The few that provide molecular data suitable for species identification in accordance with Michaloudi et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A number of studies Li et al, 2010;Wen et al, 2016;Xiang et al, 2007) to be more accurate predictors of morphological variation than COI-based species delimitations . Thus, COI-based clade delimitations can therefore not be unequivocally traced back to the species described by Michaloudi et al (2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since then, several studies have contributed with new insights regarding this species complex (Table ). Several molecular phylogenetic studies have been performed, suggesting a great genetic divergence among specific clades (Cheng, Xi, & Li, ; García‐Morales & Elías‐Gutiérrez, ; Xiang, Xi, & Hu, ; Xiang, Xi, Zhu, & Xu, ), some of which were also found to be reproductively isolated (Gilbert & Walsh, ; Li et al., ; Xiang et al., 2011a, 2011b) or differing in size or phenology (Gilbert & Walsh, ; Li, Niu, & Ma, ; Wen, Xi, Zhang, Xue, & Xiang, ; Xiang et al., ). In addition, phylogeographical studies have revealed different distribution patterns among phylogenetic clades within China, possibly reflecting historic events of range expansion, long distance dispersal, and secondary contact (Xiang, Xi, Wen, Zhang, & Ma, 2010a, 2010b; Xiang et al., 2011a, 2011b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Patterns of differentiation in the life history and demography of four recently described species of the Brachionus calyciflorus cryptic species complex

et al. 2019

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Brachionus calyciflorus is arguably the most studied freshwater monogonont rotifer. Although it has been recognised as a cryptic species complex for more than a decade, a formal (re‐)description of the four species known so far (B. calyciflorus, Brachionus dorcas, Brachionus elevatus, and Brachionus fernandoi) has only recently been made. Information on the ecology of these species is very scant and fragmented. The aim of this study was to test for ecological divergence between these four species, specifically their life history strategy and population demography. We conducted a life history experiment using 12–16 genotypes per species. For each species, genotypes were extracted from at least three different natural populations. In addition, we performed population‐level culture experiments with the aim to compare population growth rates and demographic structure of experimental populations among species. Finally, we searched the literature for life history studies with molecular data allowing retrospective species identification. We found pronounced differences in life history traits between B. fernandoi and the other three species. B. fernandoi had higher egg and juvenile development times and a lower egg production rate and mictic ratio. We detected no significant life history differences among B. calyciflorus, B. elevatus, and B. dorcas. Population growth rates of B. fernandoi and B. calyciflorus were higher than those of B. elevatus and B. dorcas. Life history divergence resulted in marked differences in the demographic structure of populations. Populations of B. fernandoi contained larger fractions of pre‐reproductive females and lower fractions of adult females with sexual eggs than populations of B. calyciflorus, B. elevatus, and B. dorcas. Mortality was found to be highest in B. elevatus and lowest in B. calyciflorus populations. Our results show that a reverse taxonomy approach is powerful in revealing sources of variation in ecologically relevant traits of cryptic species, such as life history and demographic structure. Explicit consideration of this variation is crucial for future studies of their dynamics in natural communities.

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“…Although benefits of using multiple markers to investigate cryptic species is recognized [ 100 – 104 ], most studies of rotifers are based solely on the mitochondrial COI gene (e.g., [ 24 – 27 , 105 – 107 ]). In their study of the Brachionus plicatilis complex based on all available COI and ITS sequences, Mills et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence supporting cryptic species within two sessile microinvertebrates, Limnias melicerta and L. ceratophylli (Rotifera, Gnesiotrocha)

2018

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Microorganisms, including rotifers, are thought to be capable of long distance dispersal. Therefore, they should show little population genetic structure due to high gene flow. Nevertheless, substantial genetic structure has been reported among populations of many taxa. In rotifers, genetic studies have focused on planktonic taxa leaving sessile groups largely unexplored. Here, we used COI gene and ITS region sequences to study genetic structure and delimit cryptic species in two sessile species (Limnias melicerta [32 populations]; L. ceratophylli [21 populations]). Among populations, ITS region sequences were less variable as compared to those of the COI gene (ITS; L. melicerta: 0–3.1% and L. ceratophylli: 0–4.4%; COI; L. melicerta: 0–22.7% and L. ceratophylli: 0–21.7%). Moreover, L. melicerta and L. ceratophylli were not resolved in phylogenetic analyses based on ITS sequences. Thus, we used COI sequences for species delimitation. Bayesian Species Delimitation detected nine putative cryptic species within L. melicerta and four putative cryptic species for L. ceratophylli. The genetic distance in the COI gene was 0–15.4% within cryptic species of L. melicerta and 0.5–0.6% within cryptic species of L. ceratophylli. Among cryptic species, COI genetic distance ranged 8.1–21.9% for L. melicerta and 15.1–21.2% for L. ceratophylli. The correlation between geographic and genetic distance was weak or lacking; thus geographic isolation cannot be considered a strong driver of genetic variation. In addition, geometric morphometric analyses of trophi did not show significant variation among cryptic species. In this study we used a conservative approach for species delimitation, yet we were able to show that species diversity in these sessile rotifers is underestimated.

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Coexistence of crypticBrachionus calyciflorus(Rotifera) species: roles of environmental variables

Cited by 27 publications

References 51 publications

Patterns of Rotifer Diversity in the Chihuahuan Desert

Patterns of Rotifer Diversity in the Chihuahuan Desert

Patterns of differentiation in the life history and demography of four recently described species of the Brachionus calyciflorus cryptic species complex

Evidence supporting cryptic species within two sessile microinvertebrates, Limnias melicerta and L. ceratophylli (Rotifera, Gnesiotrocha)

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