Speciation durations and Pleistocene effects on vertebrate phylogeography

An approach applied previously to avian biotas is extended in this paper to other vertebrate classes to evaluate Pleistocene phylogeographic effects and to estimate temporal spans of the speciation process (speciation durations) from mitochondrial (mt) DNA data on extant taxa. Provisional molecular...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences Biological sciences, 1998-09, Vol.265 (1407), p.1707-1712
Main Authors: Avise, John C., Walker, DeEtte, Johns, Glenn C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amphibians - classification
Amphibians - genetics
Animal genetics
Animals
Biological taxonomies
Calibration
Comparative Molecular Evolution
DNA, Mitochondrial - genetics
Evolution
Evolution, Molecular
Evolutionary genetics
Fishes - classification
Fishes - genetics
Genetic Distances
Mammals
Mammals - classification
Mammals - genetics
Mitochondrial DNA
Molecular Clocks
Molecular genetics
Phylogeny
Phylogroups
Population Structure
Reptiles - classification
Reptiles - genetics
Sister Species
Speciation
Species Specificity
Time Factors
Vertebrates
Vertebrates - classification
Vertebrates - genetics
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Summary:An approach applied previously to avian biotas is extended in this paper to other vertebrate classes to evaluate Pleistocene phylogeographic effects and to estimate temporal spans of the speciation process (speciation durations) from mitochondrial (mt) DNA data on extant taxa. Provisional molecular clocks are used to date population separations and to bracket estimates of speciation durations between minimum and maximum values inferred from genetic distances between, respectively, extant pairs of intraspecific phylogroups and sister species. Comparisons of genetic-distance trends across the vertebrate classes reveal the following: (i) speciation durations normally entail at least two million years on average; (ii) for mammals and birds, Pleistocene conditions played an important role in initiating phylogeographic differentiation among now-extant conspecific populations as well as in further sculpting pre-existing phylogeographic variety into many of today's sister species; and (iii) for herpetofauna and fishes, inferred Pleistocene biogeographic influences on present-day taxa differ depending on alternative but currently plausible mtDNA rate calibrations.
ISSN:0962-8452
1471-2954
DOI:10.1098/rspb.1998.0492