Abstract
Aim: A poorly explored feature of the origin and maintenance of Neotropical biodiversity is how the evolutionary dynamics of colonization and differentiation in relation to lowland and highland habitats has impacted lineage formation. Most speciation models for this region have focused on vicariant events, whereas the need to assess the influence of demographic processes has been recognized only recently. We evaluate if the origin of Andean montane lineages of terciopelo pitvipers is explained by either of two historical processes that represent distinct phylogeographic mechanisms: differentiation by isolation within the highlands or different dispersal events from the lowlands. Location: Western Ecuador. Taxon: Terciopelo pitvipers (Bothrops asper species complex). Methods: We use genomic data and genetic clustering analyses, evaluation of historical migration between genetic clusters and demographic model selection to investigate recent diversification events in South America using a vertebrate group rarely explored in phylogeographic studies: tropical Andean snakes. Specifically, the origin of two Ecuadorian montane lineages of terciopelo pitvipers was evaluated given ambiguous phylogenetic relationships with the presumably ancestral Pacific lowland lineage. Results: Discrepancies of evolutionary relationships previously obtained with tree-like methods are resolved through the use of modelling approaches. We found strong support for the independent origin of montane lineages based on topologies inferred by maximum-likelihood trees and modelling approaches that take into account possible gene flow. This suggests dispersal rather than in-situ differentiation as the most likely mechanism by which the montane linages originated. Main conclusions: Recent large-scale studies have found support for identifying dispersal events as important drivers of diversification in the Neotropical region. We contribute to these ideas by identifying a fine-scale case in a rarely studied group of animals -Andean snakes- in which river valleys acted as an entrance for the upward colonization of montane dry habitats and subsequent ecological diversification.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1826-1840 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Journal of Biogeography |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 17 Jul 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Funding
Fulbright Program; SecretarD?a de EducaciD?n Superior, Ciencia, TecnologD?a e InnovaciD?n; Tinker Foundation; The Ohio State University Graduate School; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Grant/Award Number: KU2328/5‐1 We thank W. Wüster, E.N. Smith, M. Terán and D. Amazonas for generously providing key samples. We are grateful to M. Sovic, J. Díaz and P. Santacruz-Ortega for advice and help in the laboratory. For advice and comments on the manuscript, we thank M. Sovic, A. Fries, R. Denton, M. Holding, S. Smiley-Walters, J. Freudenstein, B. Carstens, T. Hetherington, P. Fuerst, G. Silva, and two anonymous reviewers. We also thank E. Arbeláez, A. Loaiza-Lange, D. Núñez, P. Santacruz-Ortega, S. Harris, A. Freire-Lascano, F. Ayala and R. Molina for assistance in the field. We thank J.A. Campbell and W.W. Lamar for valuable discussion and for bringing the Río León population of pitvipers to our attention. Specimens were collected under collection permit 008-09 IC-FAU-DNB/MA and were deposited at Museo de Zoología (QCAZ), Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. Funding was provided by a Fulbright-Secretaría de Educación Superior, Ciencia y Tecnología del Ecuador (Senescyt) grant, a Tinker Foundation grant and an Alumni Grant from The Ohio State University Graduate School to DSV; a German Research Foundation grant to UK (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG KU2328/5-1); and a Senescyt grant under the ‘Arca de Noé’ Initiative (PIs: S.R. Ron and O. Torres-Carvajal) to OTC. We thank W. WD?ster, E.N. Smith, M. Terán and D. Amazonas for generously providing key samples. We are grateful to M. Sovic, J. DD?az and P. Santacruz‐Ortega for advice and help in the la‐bo ratory. For advice and comments on the manuscript, we thank M. Sovic, A. Fries, R. Denton, M. Holding, S. Smiley‐Walters, J. Freudenstein, B. Carstens, T. Hetherington, P. Fuerst, G. Silva, and two anonymous reviewers. We also thank E. Arbeláez, A. Loaiza‐ Lange, D. ND?D?ez, P. Santacruz‐Ortega, S. Harris, A. Freire‐Lascano, F. Ayala and R. Molina for assistance in the field. We thank J.A. Campbell and W.W. Lamar for valuable discussion and for bringing the RD?o LeD?n population of pitvipers to our attention. Specimens were collected under collection permit 008‐09 IC‐FAU‐DNB/ MA and were deposited at Museo de ZoologD?a (QCAZ), Pontificia Universidad CatD?lica del Ecuador. Funding was provided by a Fulbright‐SecretarD?a de EducaciD?n Superior, Ciencia y TecnologD?a del Ecuador (Senescyt) grant, a Tinker Foundation grant and an Alumni Grant from The Ohio State University Graduate School to DSV; a German Research Foundation grant to UK (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG KU2328/5‐1); and a Senescyt grant under the ‘Arca de Noé’ Initiative (PIs: S.R. Ron and O. Torres‐ Carvajal) to OTC.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| EducaciD?n Superior, Ciencia y TecnologD?a del Ecuador | |
| Fulbright-Secretaría de Educación Superior, Ciencia y Tecnología del Ecuador | |
| SecretarD?a de EducaciD?n Superior, Ciencia | |
| Tinker Foundation | |
| Ohio State University | |
| Graduate School, Ohio State University | |
| Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft | DFG KU2328/5‐1, KU2328/5‐1 |
| Secretaría de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación |
Keywords
- Neotropics
- RAD sequencing
- dispersal
- evolutionary lineages
- historical demography
- northern Andes
- terciopelo pitvipers