The shifting landscape of genes since the Pliocene: terrestrial phylogeography in the Greater Cape Floristic Region

Tolley, Krystal A.; Bowie, Rauri C. K.; Measey, G. John; Price, Benjamin W.; Forest, Félix

doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199679584.003.0007

Cited by 39 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 152 publications

(334 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Furthermore, a combination of biome persistence and moderate climatic variability may favour the evolution of new biome‐associated endemics (Midgley et al ., ). While our results for birds will not necessarily apply also to other taxonomic groups in southern Africa, evidence that biome‐associated species in other groups may also have persisted where biomes persisted, elsewhere showing range shifts as climatic conditions changed (Tolley et al ., ), suggests that our results may be more general.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Explaining patterns of avian diversity and endemicity: climate and biomes of southern Africa over the last 140,000 years

Huntley

Singarayer

Valdes

et al. 2016

Journal of Biogeography

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aim Test hypotheses that present biodiversity and endemic species richness are related to climatic stability and/or biome persistence. Location Africa south of 15° S. Methods Seventy eight HadCM3 general circulation model palaeoclimate experiments spanning the last 140,000 years, plus a pre‐industrial experiment, were used to calculate measures of climatic variability for 0.5° grid cells. Models were fitted relating distributions of the nine biomes of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland to present climate. These models were used to simulate potential past biome distribution and extent for the 78 palaeoclimate experiments, and three measures of biome persistence. Climatic response surfaces were fitted for 690 bird species regularly breeding in the region and used to simulate present species richness for cells of the 0.5° grid. Species richness was evaluated for residents, mobile species (nomadic or partially/altitudinally migrant within the region), and intra‐African migrants, and also separately for endemic/near‐endemic (hereafter ‘endemic’) species as a whole and those associated with each biome. Our hypotheses were tested by analysing correlations between species richness and climatic variability or biome persistence. Results The magnitude of climatic variability showed clear spatial patterns. Marked changes in biome distributions and extents were projected, although limited areas of persistence were projected for some biomes. Overall species richness was not correlated with climatic variability, although richness of mobile species showed a weak negative correlation. Endemic species richness was significantly negatively correlated with climatic variability. Strongest correlations, however, were positive correlations between biome persistence and richness of endemics associated with individual biomes. Main conclusions Low climatic variability, and especially a degree of stability enabling biome persistence, is strongly correlated with species richness of birds endemic to southern Africa. This probably principally reflects reduced extinction risk for these species where the biome to which they are adapted persisted.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Explaining patterns of avian diversity and endemicity: climate and biomes of southern Africa over the last 140,000 years

Huntley

Singarayer

Valdes

et al. 2016

Journal of Biogeography

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We hypothesized that open habitat Bitis lineages (subgenera: to glacial cycling. Indeed, the central Karoo is considered to have high "climate velocity", whereby the biome has shifted in position and extent during the Pleistocene (Tolley, Bowie, Price, Measey, & Forest, 2014). The current biomes have apparently been relatively stable in extent through the Holocene (Scott et al, 1997).…”

Section: Is the Evolution Of Bitis Habitat Dependent?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ancient habitat shifts and organismal diversification are decoupled in the African viper genus Bitis (Serpentes: Viperidae)

Barlow

Wüster

Kelly

et al. 2019

Journal of Biogeography

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aim The expansion of open habitats during the mid‐Miocene has been hypothesized as a driver of allopatric speciation for many African taxa. This habitat‐dependent mode of diversification has been implicated in the shift from C3 (e.g. forest/woodland) to C4 dominated systems (i.e. open savanna, grasslands) in a number of African squamates. We examined this hypothesis using a genus of African viperid snakes (Bitis) with both open habitat and forest‐dwelling representatives. Location Africa. Methods A comprehensive multilocus dataset was used to generate a calibrated species tree using a multispecies coalescent model. Individual gene trees and patterns of nuclear allele sharing were used to assess species monophyly and isolation. To test the habitat‐dependent evolution hypothesis, we generated an ancestral character state reconstruction for open and closed habitats using the dated phylogeny. This was related to the timing of open habitat expansion and forest/woodland contraction in Africa. Results The genus Bitis originated in the Oligocene, with species level diversification in the late Miocene/Pliocene. Four well‐supported clades correspond to the recognized subgenera Bitis, Keniabitis, Macrocerastes and Calechidna. Several previously unrecognized lineages potentially represent cryptic species. Main conclusions Habitat‐dependent evolution does not appear to have been a main driver for generic level viperine diversification: the ancestral state for Bitis was open habitat and at least one clade moved into forest in the Miocene, long after forest had contracted and fragmented. Forest‐dependent species diversified only in the late Miocene, presumably as forest became further reduced in extent, fitting an allopatric model of speciation. Although our results do not favour a general pattern of habitat‐dependent diversification in Bitis, cladogenesis within the subgenus Calechidna for “arenicolous” species (Bitis caudalis complex) and “rupicolous” species (B. atropos‐cornuta complex), corresponds to the aridification of southwest Africa. This suggests there are subtleties not captured in the broad open habitat category, which are relevant for understanding the role of habitat‐dependent evolution.

show abstract

“…These solutions are particularly important if we consider that amphibians have strong habitat specificity, which is largely driven by their generally poor dispersal abilities. 76 This specificity results in deep phylogenetic structures at relatively small spatial scales 15 which could be an outcome of both climate stability and topography 77 . We advocate that future models should try to incorporate the use of different GCMs 55 because such consensus models outperform individual GCMs in predicting consensus climatic space.…”

Section: Kyamentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the effects of climate change on distributions of Cape Floristic Region amphibians

Mokhatla¹,

Rödder²,

Measey³

2015

S. Afr. J. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Climatic changes have had profound impacts on species distributions throughout time. In response, species have shifted ranges, adapted genetically and behaviourally or become extinct. Using species distribution models, we examined how changes in suitable climatic space could affect the distributions of 37 endemic frog species in the Cape Floristic Region (CFR) – an area proposed to have evolved its megadiversity under a stable climate, which is expected to change substantially in future. Species distributions were projected onto mean climate for a current period (1950 to 2000), hindcasted to palaeoclimate (Last Glacial Maximum; LGM ≈ 21 kya and Holocene Glacial Minimum; HGM ≈ 6 kya) and forecasted for two emissions scenarios (A2a and B2a) for the year 2080. We then determined the changes in area sizes, direction (longitude and latitude), fragmentation index and biotic velocity, and assessed if these were affected by life-history traits and altitude. We found that the biotic velocity at which the CFR amphibian community is expected to shift north (A2a ≈ 540.5 km/kya) and east (B2a ≈ 198 km/kya) far exceeds historical background rates (≈1.05 km/kya, north and west ≈ 2.36 km/kya since the LGM). Our models further suggest that the CFR amphibian community has already lost about 56% of suitable climate space since the LGM and this loss is expected to accelerate under future emission scenarios (A2a ≈ 70%; B2a ≈ 60%). Lastly, we found that highland species were more fragmented than lowland species between the LGM and current period, but that the fragmentation of lowland species between current and future climates is expected to increase.

show abstract

The shifting landscape of genes since the Pliocene: terrestrial phylogeography in the Greater Cape Floristic Region

Cited by 39 publications

References 152 publications

Explaining patterns of avian diversity and endemicity: climate and biomes of southern Africa over the last 140,000 years

Explaining patterns of avian diversity and endemicity: climate and biomes of southern Africa over the last 140,000 years

Ancient habitat shifts and organismal diversification are decoupled in the African viper genus Bitis (Serpentes: Viperidae)

Assessing the effects of climate change on distributions of Cape Floristic Region amphibians

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About