Habitat Separation of Sympatric Microcebus spp. in the Dry Spiny Forest of South-Eastern Madagascar

Rakotondranary, S. Jacques; Ganzhorn, Jörg U.

doi:10.1159/000334816

Cited by 24 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 52 publications

(57 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This suggests that other factors besides geographical or environmental separation may be responsible for speciation within these pairs (e.g. microhabitat selection, Rakotondranary & Ganzhorn, ) which would account for the lack of signal found in our analysis.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

A null biogeographical test for assessing ecological niche evolution

Nunes

Pearson

2016

Journal of Biogeography

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aims Quantification of the degree to which ecological niches change over evolutionary time‐scales is important for deepening our understanding of evolutionary and ecological processes. Phylogenetic niche conservatism (PNC) is when closely related species differ less ecologically than expected by chance, whereas Phylogenetic Niche Divergence (PND) is when closely related species differ more ecologically than expected by chance. We present a new null model to test for PNC and PND (the random translocation and rotation (RTR) significance test), which we combine with a novel metric for quantifying niche overlap. Location Europe, North America and Madagascar. Methods The RTR null model comprises many thousands of replicates generated by randomly translocating and rotating the set of occurrence records for two populations (e.g. sister species) while maintaining the spatial configuration between all occurrences within each replicate. For each replicate, we calculate niche overlap as the proportion of the combined niche breadth that is shared by the two species, averaged over n environmental dimensions. This approach enables us to test whether the observed niche overlap is more or less than expected by chance given the environmental conditions present in the study area. We test the performance of our approach in comparison to other methods using both simulated and real case scenarios, including crested newts in Europe, pocket gophers in North America, and lemurs in Madagascar. Results We find that our measure of niche overlap performs better than other metrics in an artificial simulation scenario, and we find evidence for both PNC and PND in our case studies for Europe, North America and Madagascar. Our results demonstrate that both the RTR significance test and the novel metric of niche overlap are consistent with evolutionary theory and are suitable methods to test for PNC and PND. Main conclusions We make available scripts to implement the RTR test and metric of niche overlap, and expect that the methods will prove useful for addressing a broad set of questions relating to ecological niche evolution and speciation, particularly for restricted‐range species for which few known occurrence records are available.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

A null biogeographical test for assessing ecological niche evolution

Nunes

Pearson

2016

Journal of Biogeography

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Ongoing work from the past two decades has shown conclusively that although the morphological differences among species of mouse lemur can be subtle, their genetic and ecological differences are consistent with an evolutionary radiation that presently contains 24 described species (25,(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46), with the basal diversification occurring as long ago as 9-10 Ma (47,48). Several studies have shown strong support for three deep lineages, one that contains M. murinus plus Microcebus griseorufus, another deeply diverged lineage represented by Microcebus ravelobensis, Microcebus danfossi, and Microcebus bongolavensis, and a third lineage that comprises all other mouse lemur species, including strong support for a distal subclade containing M. berthae, Microcebus rufus, and Microcebus myoxinus (41,43,44,49).…”

Section: Why Mouse Lemurs?mentioning

confidence: 88%

Geogenetic patterns in mouse lemurs (genus Microcebus ) reveal the ghosts of Madagascar's forests past

Yoder

Campbell

Blanco

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

103

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Phylogeographic analysis can be described as the study of the geological and climatological processes that have produced contemporary geographic distributions of populations and species. Here, we attempt to understand how the dynamic process of landscape change on Madagascar has shaped the distribution of a targeted clade of mouse lemurs (genus Microcebus) and, conversely, how phylogenetic and population genetic patterns in these small primates can reciprocally advance our understanding of Madagascar's prehuman environment. The degree to which human activity has impacted the natural plant communities of Madagascar is of critical and enduring interest. Today, the eastern rainforests are separated from the dry deciduous forests of the west by a large expanse of presumed anthropogenic grassland savanna, dominated by the Family Poaceae, that blankets most of the Central Highlands. Although there is firm consensus that anthropogenic activities have transformed the original vegetation through agricultural and pastoral practices, the degree to which closed-canopy forest extended from the east to the west remains debated. Phylogenetic and population genetic patterns in a five-species clade of mouse lemurs suggest that longitudinal dispersal across the island was readily achieved throughout the Pleistocene, apparently ending at ∼55 ka. By examining patterns of both inter-and intraspecific genetic diversity in mouse lemur species found in the eastern, western, and Central Highland zones, we conclude that the natural environment of the Central Highlands would have been mosaic, consisting of a matrix of wooded savanna that formed a transitional zone between the extremes of humid eastern and dry western forest types.phylogeography | climate change | speciation | deforestation | ddRAD

show abstract

“…The initial divergence between the two species may have resulted from a geographically-based vicariant event or an ecological niche separation. There is no discernible extrinsic barrier separating the two species, but there is evidence that suggests ecological segregation [39-41,77,78]. Although some studies suggest that M. murinus preferentially inhabits dry forest habitat in northwestern Madagascar [79], it could be argued that M. murinus is a generalist species as it is often found in both dry deciduous forest and wet, gallery forest habitats in the southeast [38,39].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multilocus coalescent analyses reveal the demographic history and speciation patterns of mouse lemur sister species

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundDebate continues as to whether allopatric speciation or peripatric speciation through a founder effect is the predominant force driving evolution in vertebrates. The mouse lemurs of Madagascar are a system in which evolution has generated a large number of species over a relatively recent time frame. Here, we examine speciation patterns in a pair of sister species of mouse lemur, Microcebus murinus and M. griseorufus. These two species have ranges that are disparately proportioned in size, with M. murinus showing a much more extensive range that marginally overlaps that of M. griseorufus. Given that these two species are sister taxa, the asymmetric but overlapping geographic ranges are consistent with a model of peripatric speciation. To test this hypothesis, we analyze DNA sequence data from four molecular markers using coalescent methods. If the peripatric speciation model is supported, we predict substantially greater genetic diversity in M. murinus, relative to M. griseorufus. Further, we expect a larger effective population size in M. murinus and in the common ancestor of the two species than in M. griseorufus, with a concomitant decrease in gene tree/species tree incongruence in the latter and weak signs of demographic expansion in M. murinus.ResultsOur results reject a model of peripatric divergence. Coalescent effective population size estimates were similar for both extant species and larger than that estimated for their most recent common ancestor. Gene tree results show similar levels of incomplete lineage sorting within species with respect to the species tree, and locus-specific estimates of genetic diversity are concordant for both species. Multilocus demographic analyses suggest range expansions for M. murinus, with this species also experiencing more recent population declines over the past 160 thousand years.ConclusionsResults suggest that speciation occurred in allopatry from a common ancestor narrowly distributed throughout southwest Madagascar, with subsequent range expansion for M. murinus. Population decline in M. murinus is likely related to patterns of climate change in Madagascar throughout the Pleistocene, potentially exacerbated by continual anthropogenic perturbation. Genome-level data are needed to quantify the role of niche specialization and adaptation in shaping the current ranges of these species.

show abstract

Habitat Separation of Sympatric Microcebus spp. in the Dry Spiny Forest of South-Eastern Madagascar

Cited by 24 publications

References 52 publications

A null biogeographical test for assessing ecological niche evolution

A null biogeographical test for assessing ecological niche evolution

Geogenetic patterns in mouse lemurs (genus Microcebus ) reveal the ghosts of Madagascar's forests past

Multilocus coalescent analyses reveal the demographic history and speciation patterns of mouse lemur sister species

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About