Abstract Detail

Biogeography

Wang, Yihan [1], Mao, Yunrui [1], Cao, Yanan [1], Comes, Peter [2], Qiu, Yingxiong [1].

Quaternary climate change drives allo-peripatric speciation and refugial divergence in Dysosma versipellis-pleiantha complex (Berberidaceae) from different forest types in subtropical China.

Subtropical China harbours the world’s most diverse temperate flora, but little is known about the roles of geographical and eco-climatic factors underlying the region’s exceptionally high species diversity and endemism. Here we construct the evolutionary history of D. versipellis-pleiantha’ complex, understory herbs endemic to subtropical China. 42 population were screened with chloroplast (cp) DNA sequences and 15 gene-linked EST-SSR loci to assess population structure and diversity, supplemented with phylogenetic dating, Approximate Bayesian Computation analysis, and ecological niche models (ENM), to further elucidate the spatiotemporal and ecological processes of divergence within the complex. Our cpDNA phylogeny showed that the complex is derived from a Late Pliocene ancestor of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP)/West China. Genetic and ENM data in conjunction with niche differentiation analyses support that the early divergence of D. versipellis and D. pleiantha proceeded through allo-peripatric speciation, possibly triggered by Early Pleistocene climate change, while subsequent climate-induced cycles of range contractions/expansions enhanced the eco-geographic isolation of both taxa. Furthermore, modelling of population-genetic data indicated that major lineage divergences within D. versipellis likely resulted from long-term allopatric population isolation in multiple localized refugia over the last glacial/interglacial periods, and which in turn fostered endemic species formation (D. difformis, D. majonesis) from within D. versipellis in Southwest China. These findings point to an overriding role of Quaternary climate change in triggering essentially allo-peripatric speciation and refugial divergence in this group of forest-restricted plant species in subtropical China.

1 - Zhejing University, Key Laboratory of Conservation Biology for Endangered Wildlife of the Ministry of Education, and College of Life Sciences, No.866, Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310058, China
2 - Salzburg University, Department of Organismic Biology, Salzburg, Austria

Keywords:
Dysosma versipellis-pleiantha complex
ecological niche modelling
genetic structure
interspecific divergence
Quaternary
speciation.

Presentation Type: Poster
Session: P, Biogeography Posters
Location: Exhibit Hall/Savannah International Trade and Convention Center
Date: Monday, August 1st, 2016
Time: 5:30 PM This poster will be presented at 5:30 pm. The Poster Session runs from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm. Posters with odd poster numbers are presented at 5:30 pm, and posters with even poster numbers are presented at 6:15 pm.
Number: PBG009
Abstract ID:922
Candidate for Awards:None