Comparative Phylogeography of Direct-Developing Frogs (Anura: Craugastoridae: Pristimantis) in the Southern Andes of Colombia

Abstract

The Andes of South America hosts perhaps the highest amphibian species diversity in the world, and a sizable component of that diversity is comprised of direct-developing frogs of the genus Pristimantis (Anura: Craugastoridae). In order to better understand the initial stages of species formation in these frogs, this study quantified local-scale spatial genetic structuring in three species of Pristimantis. DNA sequences of two mitochondrial gene fragments (16S and COI) were obtained from P. brevifrons, P. palmeri and P. jubatus at different locations in the Cordillera Occidental. We found high levels of genetic diversity in the three species, with highly structured populations (as measured by F ST) in P. brevifrons and P. palmeri while P. jubatus showed panmixia. Large effective population sizes, inferred from the high levels of genetic diversity, were found in the three species and two highly divergent lineages were detected within P. jubatus and P. palmeri. Estimated divergence times among populations within P. brevifrons and P. palmeri coincide with the Pleistocene, perhaps due to similar responses to climatic cycling or recent geological history. Such insights have important implications for linking alpha and beta diversity, suggesting regional scale patterns may be associated with local scale processes in promoting differentiation among populations in the Andes.

Gene flow and Andean uplift shape the diversification of Gasteracantha cancriformis (Araneae: Araneidae) in Northern South America

“…Species diversification driven by the uplift of the Andes has been documented in several organisms including birds (Chaves, Pollinger, Smith, & LeBuhn, ; Fernandes, Wink, Sardelli, & Aleixo, ; Ribas, Moyle, Miyaki, & Cracraft, ), reptiles (Teixeira et al., ), amphibians (García‐R et al., ; Guarnizo, Amézquita, & Bermingham, ; Guarnizo et al., ), bees (Dick et al., ), and butterflies (Elias et al., ); however, the persistence of gene flow between populations separated by the Andes is far less known (Hoffmann & Baker, ; Miller et al., ; Oswald et al., ). Here, despite the vicariance associated with the Andean uplift that resulted in eEC and wEC Andean clades for G. cancriformis , we found individuals with shared ancestry between the main two geographic groups.…”

Contrasting patterns of diversification in a bird family (Aves: Gruiformes: Rallidae) are revealed by analysis of geospatial distribution of species and phylogenetic diversity

“…The parsimonious interpretation of global patterns of diversity across different organismal groups is that regional level processes are of general importance in driving biodiversity (Ricklefs and Schluter 1983, Gaston 2000, Ricklefs 2004, Qian et al 2009, García-R et al 2012. In birds, biodiversity tends to be highest in tropical and subtropical areas with species associated with longer branches residing at lower latitudes (Blackburn and Gaston 1996, Jetz et al 2004, Orme et al 2006, Weir and Schluter 2007.…”

Gene flow and Andean uplift shape the diversification ofGasteracantha cancriformis(Araneae: Araneidae) in Northern South America

“…Species diversification driven by the uplift of the Andes has been documented in several organisms including birds (Chaves, Pollinger, Smith, & LeBuhn, 2007;Fernandes, Wink, Sardelli, & Aleixo, 2014;Ribas, Moyle, Miyaki, & Cracraft, 2007), reptiles (Teixeira et al, 2016), amphibians (García-R et al, 2012;Guarnizo et al, 2015;Guarnizo, Amézquita, & Bermingham, 2009), bees (Dick et al, 2004) and butterflies (Elias et al, 2009). Yet, the persistence of gene flow between populations separated by the Andes is far less known (Hoffmann & Baker, 2003;Miller et al, 2008;Oswald et al, 2017).…”