The Periglacial Expansion of Marmots (Marmota) in Middle Europe during Late Pleistocene

Zimina, R. P.; Gerasimov, I. P.

doi:10.2307/1379120

Cited by 28 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…The tarbagan lelism can also be seen in the adaptations of camtschatica and broweri to the extremes of cold and short growing season in northeast Siberia and northern Alaska, respectively. As noted above, most previous authors have considered broweri to be the sister species to camtschatica -an Asian marmot that migrated into Alaska in the late Pleistocene-but as Rausch and Rausch (1971) postulated, the cyt b tree suggests that its ancestry goes back at least to the beginning of the radiation of the Asian marmots (Zimina and Gerasimov, 1973).…”

Section: Evolutionary Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular Phylogeny of the Marmots (Rodentia: Sciuridae): Tests of Evolutionary and Biogeographic Hypotheses

Steppan¹,

Akhverdyan²,

Lyapunova³

et al. 1999

Systematic Biology

117

114

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potheses, defining well-resolved nodes of the phylogeny, and identifying unresolved relationships, thereby focusing our efforts more efficiently.Here, we employ a statistical approach, using both parsimony and likelihood analyses of molecular sequence data to test a suite of previously proposed hypotheses of phylogenetic relationships in marmots (Marmota). A sequential phylogenetic estimation procedure was used that culminated in a maximum likelihood analysis utilizing a model of sequence evolution with parameters estimated from the data.Marmots are large terrestrial rodents found today throughout much of northern Eurasia and North America, including the Bering Strait region of western Alaska and eastern Siberia (Fig. 1). Their ecology and ethology has been studied extensively (e.g., There is a growing movement in systematics from simply making estimates of phylogeny to hypothesis testing and reliability estimation (Huelsenbeck and Rannala, 1997). This statistical perspective allows more precise delineation of which relationships are well understood and which need additional investigation. It also promotes the generation of explicit evolutionary and biogeographic models while providing the tools to reject hypotheses. These developments promise to accelerate our understanding of evolution by improving our hy- Syst. Biol. 48(4):715-734, 1999 Abstract.-There are 14 species of marmots distributed across the Holarctic, and despite extensive systematic study, their phylogenetic relationships remain largely unresolved. In particular, comprehensive studies have been lacking. A well-supported phylogeny is needed to place the numerous ecological and behavioral studies on marmots in an evolutionary context. To address this situation, we obtained complete cytochrome (cyt) b sequences for 13 of the species and a partial sequence for the 14th. We applied a statistical approach to both phylogeny estimation and hypothesis testing, using parsimony and maximum likelihood-based methods. We conducted statistical tests on a suite of previously proposed hypotheses of phylogenetic relationships and biogeographic histories. The cyt b data strongly support the monophyly of Marmota and a western montane clade in the Nearctic. Although some other scenarios cannot be rejected, the results are consistent with an initial diversification in North America, followed by an invasion and subsequent rapid diversification in the Palearctic. These analyses reject the two major competing hypotheses of M. broweri's phylogenetic relationships-namely, that it is the sister species to M. camtschatica of eastern Siberia, and that it is related closely to M. caligata of the Nearctic. The Alaskan distribution of M. broweri is best explained as a reinvasion from the Palearctic, but a Nearctic origin can not be rejected. Several other conventionally recognized species groups can also be rejected. Social evolution has been homoplastic, with large colonial systems evolving in two groups convergently. The cyt b data do not provide unambiguous resolution of se...

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Section: Evolutionary Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular Phylogeny of the Marmots (Rodentia: Sciuridae): Tests of Evolutionary and Biogeographic Hypotheses

Steppan¹,

Akhverdyan²,

Lyapunova³

et al. 1999

Systematic Biology

117

114

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“…2E), but with hibernation burrows to a depth of 5 to 7 m, and with tunnels 10 to 113 m in length (Zimina and Gerasimov, 1973). Some species also have two dens, one for summer and one for winter (Godin, 1977).…”

Section: The Canadian Rocky Mountainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Animals as Erosion Agents in the Alpine Zone: Some Data and Observations from Canada, Lesotho, and Tibet

Hall

Boelhouwers

Driscoll

1999

Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research

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Animals can exert a very strong impact on erosion and sediment transport in the alpine. Although the alpine is recognized for its abundance of animals, animalsoil erosion interactions have been poorly studied. Animals exert a direct influence through their burrowing and digging for food and also indirectly by opening the ground to climatic and geomorphic influences, e.g. rain splash, needle ice, and wind erosion. It is this synergy that is important for alpine erosion. Because the alpine zone is subject to freezing, frost action, and snow melt, exposed sediments and/or the availability of drainage through burrows can have a marked effect on sediment transport and slopes. On the steeper, less stable alpine slopes, the effects of loading can cause failure that produces arcuate slip scars, the exposed faces of which can also be exploited by geomorphic processes. In an attempt to study the effect of animals in the alpine zone, measurements of burrowing and digging based on quadrats (5 m X 5 m) along several transects were made in the alpine zone of the Rocky Mountains of Canada. Results indicated an average of 0.0243 m" 25 m ? sediment displaced due to digging by rodents and a conservative estimation of sediment removal by rodents varying between 600 and 0.6408 m' km? yr-I • Grizzly bears exerted the greatest erosional impact with as much as 0.4958 m ' 25 m ? being measu.ed, Observations (and limited measurements) relating to the impact of animals on the landscape were also obtained from Lesotho and Tibet. These preliminary findings are presented in an attempt to exemplify the various and interrelated effects of animals, climate and geomorphic process for the alpine. It is suggested that significantly more studies are urgently needed as the situation may be exacerbated by climatic warming and/or by the expansion of pastoralism resulting from attempts at sustainable development in developing nations. The impact of animals is an unquantified factor in many development studies, in geomorphic studies in polar or high altitude environments, and in management plans for national parks or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. through logging).

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“…They are also noteworthy for having complex societies. Marmot characteristics such as size increase, reproductive skipping, hibernation and a high degree of sociality are adaptations to harsh environments with very short growing seasons (Armitage, 2000) typical of the periglacial habitat in which marmots evolved (Zimina & Gerasimov, 1973; cited in Armitage, 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of morphological evolution in Marmota (Rodentia, Sciuridae): geometric morphometrics of the cranium in the context of marmot phylogeny, ecology and conservation

Cardini

O’Higgins

2004

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society

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Marmots are of great interest for both sociobiologists studying the evolution of mammal societies and conservationists trying to protect them from extinction. In contrast, their phylogeny and morphological evolution are poorly understood and studied. Recently, a phylogenetic analysis using cytochrome b provided the first reconstruction of marmot evolutionary history and suggested that a high level of sociality evolved at least twice independently in the two proposed marmot subgenera. A morphological analysis of the marmot mandible supported this subgeneric classification and showed interesting, and unexpected, patterns in the evolution of marmot skeletal characters. In the present study we investigated a more complex, and potentially informative structure, the ventral cranium. Geometric morphometric techniques were applied in the first analysis of cranial morphology including all marmot species. Three main phenetic groups were found, which reflect phylogeny (subgenus Petromarmota, and Palaearctic subgenus Marmota) or geographical distribution (Palaearctic vs. Nearctic subgenus Marmota). Convergence in skeletal characters due to size similarities, a common finding in the sciurid skeleton according to traditional morphological analyses, did not occur in the marmot ventral cranium. Despite a genetic distance between Marmota vancouverensis and Marmota caligata similar to that among different populations of the latter species, the Vancouver Island marmot had the most atypical ventral cranium in the subgenus Petromarmota. This finding confirmed results obtained with the mandible, and emphasized the uniqueness of M. vancouverensis and the usefulness of complementing molecular analyses with morphological studies for a thorough characterization of population divergence, and a careful planning of conservation strategies. (C) 2004 The Linnean Society of London

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The Periglacial Expansion of Marmots (Marmota) in Middle Europe during Late Pleistocene

Cited by 28 publications

References 1 publication

Molecular Phylogeny of the Marmots (Rodentia: Sciuridae): Tests of Evolutionary and Biogeographic Hypotheses

Molecular Phylogeny of the Marmots (Rodentia: Sciuridae): Tests of Evolutionary and Biogeographic Hypotheses

Animals as Erosion Agents in the Alpine Zone: Some Data and Observations from Canada, Lesotho, and Tibet

Patterns of morphological evolution in Marmota (Rodentia, Sciuridae): geometric morphometrics of the cranium in the context of marmot phylogeny, ecology and conservation

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