Phylogenetic relationships and ecological niche conservatism in killifish (Profundulidae) in Mesoamerica

Abstract

The family Profundulidae is a group of small-sized fish species distributed between southern Mexico and Honduras, where they are frequently the only fish representatives at higher elevations in the basins where they occur. We characterized their ecological niche using different methods and metrics drawn from niche modelling and by re-examining phylogenetic relationships of a recently published molecular phylogeny of this family to gain a better understanding of its biogeographic and evolutionary history. We assessed both lines of evidence from the perspective of niche conservatism to set a foundation for discussing hypotheses about the processes underlying the distribution and evolution of the group. In fish clades where the species composition is not clear, we examined whether niche classification could be informative to discriminate groups geographically and ecologically consistent with any of the different hypotheses of valid species. The characterization of the ecological niche was carried out using the Maxent algorithm under different parameterizations and the projection of the presence on the main components of the most relevant environmental coverage, and the niche comparison was calculated with two indices (D and I), both in environmental space and in that projected geographically. With the molecular data, a species tree was generated using the *BEAST method. The comparison of these data was calculated with an age-overlap correlation test. Based on the molecular phylogeny and on niche overlap analyses, we uncovered strong evidence to support the idea that ecologically similar species are not necessarily sister species. The correlation analysis for genetic distance and niche overlap was not significant (P > 0.05). In clades with taxonomic conflicts, we only identified Profundulus oaxacae as a geographically and ecologically distinct group from P. punctatus. All the evidence considered leads us to propose that Profundulidae do not show evidence of niche conservatism and that there are reasons to consider P. oaxacae as a valid species.Our study suggests that niche divergence is a driving evolutionary force that caused the diversification and speciation processes of the Profundulidae, along with the geological and climatic events that promoted the expansion or contraction of suitable environments.

Modeling of the Potential Geographical Distribution of Three Fritillaria Species Under Climate Change

“…Therefore, the high accuracy supported that the spatial distribution was related to the phylogenies despite the relatively weak P -value ( Table 2 ). The weak significance was also observed in Pipridae reported by Villegas et al (2021) and Profundulidae reported by Miguel Calixto-Rojas et al (2021) . One possible reason is that the species evolution was controlled by multiple factors, such as spatial distribution, sexual reproduction, and geographical barrier ( Zheng et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Water was reported to play an essential role in root growth ( Sharma et al, 2021 ), seed dormancy and germination ( Sheppard et al, 2014 ), and leaf growth and photosynthesis ( Peng et al, 2021 ). Water deficiency would activate transcription factors and thus promote the expression of stress-related genes ( Van Beek et al, 2021 ), whereas sufficient water would increase stomatal and leaf area ( Mozo et al, 2021 ) and promote dormancy and germination ( Chritine et al, 2014 ; Sheppard et al, 2014 ). In this study, three Fritillaria species shared similar precipitation, indicating the similar water requirement of the three species.…”

The relationship between niche breadth and phylogenetic characteristics of eight species of rhubarb on the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau, Asia

“…Considering that two species occupy the same ecological niche, two species with overlapping niches cannot coexist for long periods of time unless space and resources are abundant (Noden, 1986; Penny, 2004). The niche conservation theory argues that if a group of organisms reflects differentiation rather than conservation, ecological dimensions should be considered to have a greater impact on the evolution of those organisms (Calixto‐Rojas et al., 2021; Knouft et al., 2006; Peterson et al., 1999). Our results show that the ecological dimension has a greater impact on the speciation of eight rhubarb species on the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau than on geographic latitude.…”

Loss of fungal symbionts and changes in pollinator availability caused by climate change will affect the distribution and survival chances of myco-heterotrophic orchid species

“…To understand how the conditions of our planet changed over time various research teams developed climate models (general circulation models, GCMs) describing past 2 , present 3 and future 4 climatic Earth conditions. These GCMs became important tool in biogeographic 5 – 9 , phylogenetic 10 , 11 and ecological 12 – 15 research. Species distribution models based on GCMs are also used in nature conservation planning and preventing invasive species expansion 16 – 19 .…”