Pleistocene climatic fluctuations explain the disjunct distribution and complex phylogeographic structure of the Southern Red-backed Salamander, Plethodon serratus

Pleistocene climatic fluctuations explain the disjunct distribution and complex phylogeographic structure of the Southern Red-backed Salamander, Plethodon serratus

The southeastern United States (U.S.) has experienced dynamic climatic changes over the past several million years that have impacted species distributions. In many cases, contiguous ranges were fragmented and a lack of gene flow between allopatric populations led to genetic divergence and speciatio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Evolutionary ecology 2016-02, Vol.30 (1), p.89-104
Main Authors: Thesing, Benjamin D, Noyes, Richard D, Starkey, David E, Shepard, Donald B
Format: Article
Language:eng
Subjects:
allopatry
Analysis
Animal Ecology
Animal populations
Biogeography
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Caudata
climate
Climate change
DNA sequencing
Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
gene flow
genetic variation
Geological time
Government finance
habitats
highlands
Life Sciences
Mitochondrial DNA
mountains
Niche (Ecology)
nucleotide sequences
Nucleotide sequencing
Original Paper
Phylogenetics
Phylogeny
phylogeography
Plant Sciences
Plethodon cinereus
Plethodon serratus
Reptiles & amphibians
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Summary:The southeastern United States (U.S.) has experienced dynamic climatic changes over the past several million years that have impacted species distributions. In many cases, contiguous ranges were fragmented and a lack of gene flow between allopatric populations led to genetic divergence and speciation. The Southern Red-backed Salamander, Plethodon serratus, inhabits four widely disjunct regions of the southeastern U.S.: the southern Appalachian Mountains, the Ozark Plateau, the Ouachita Mountains, and the Southern Tertiary Uplands of central Louisiana. We integrated phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequences (1399 base pairs) with ecological niche modeling to test the hypothesis that climate fluctuations during the Pleistocene drove the isolation and divergence of disjunct populations of P. serratus. Appalachian, Ozark, and Louisiana populations each formed well-supported clades in our phylogeny. Ouachita Mountain populations sorted into two geographically distinct clades; one Ouachita clade was sister to the Louisiana clade whereas the other Ouachita clade grouped with the Appalachian and Ozark clades but relationships were unresolved. Plethodon serratus diverged from its sister taxon, P. sherando, ~5.4 million years ago (Ma), and lineage diversification within P. serratus occurred ~1.9–0.6 Ma (Pleistocene). Ecological niche models showed that the four geographic isolates of P. serratus are currently separated by unsuitable habitat, but the species was likely more continuously distributed during the colder climates of the Pleistocene. Our results support the hypothesis that climate-induced environmental changes during the Pleistocene played a dominant role in driving isolation and divergence of disjunct populations of P. serratus.
ISSN:0269-7653
1573-8477