Geographic variation in the acoustic traits of greater horseshoe bats: testing the importance of drift and ecological selection in evolutionary processes

Patterns of intraspecific geographic variation of signaling systems provide insight into the microevolutionary processes driving phenotypic divergence. The acoustic calls of bats are sensitive to diverse evolutionary forces, but processes that shape call variation are largely unexplored. In China, R...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2013-08, Vol.8 (8), p.e70368-e70368
Main Authors: Sun, Keping, Luo, Li, Kimball, Rebecca T, Wei, Xuewen, Jin, Longru, Jiang, Tinglei, Li, Guohong, Feng, Jiang
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustics
Adaptation
Animal behavior
Animals
Annual temperatures
Bats
Bats (Animals)
Biological Evolution
Biology
Birds
Cetacea
China
Chiroptera
Chiroptera - genetics
Chiroptera - physiology
Climate
Communication
Divergence
Drift
Echolocation
Echolocation (Physiology)
Ecology
Ecosystem
Environmental protection
Female
Genetic distance
Genetic diversity
Genetic Drift
Genetic structure
Laboratories
Male
Mammalia
Mitochondrial DNA
Phylogenetics
Phylogeny
Population
Populations
Radio frequency
Rhinolophidae
Rhinolophus
Rhinolophus capensis
Rhinolophus ferrumequinum
Rhinolophus hipposideros
Signalling systems
Studies
Variation
Vocalization, Animal
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Summary:Patterns of intraspecific geographic variation of signaling systems provide insight into the microevolutionary processes driving phenotypic divergence. The acoustic calls of bats are sensitive to diverse evolutionary forces, but processes that shape call variation are largely unexplored. In China, Rhinolophus ferrumequinum displays a diverse call frequency and inhabits a heterogeneous landscape, presenting an excellent opportunity for this kind of research. We quantified geographic variation in resting frequency (RF) of echolocation calls, estimated genetic structure and phylogeny of R. ferrumequinum populations, and combined this with climatic factors to test three hypotheses to explain acoustic variation: genetic drift, cultural drift, and local adaptation. Our results demonstrated significant regional divergence in frequency and phylogeny among the bat populations in China's northeast (NE), central-east (CE) and southwest (SW) regions. The CE region had higher frequencies than the NE and SW regions. Drivers of RF divergence were estimated in the entire range and just the CE/NE region (since these two regions form a clade). In both cases, RF divergence was not correlated with mtDNA or nDNA genetic distance, but was significantly correlated with geographic distance and mean annual temperature, indicating cultural drift and ecological selection pressures are likely important in shaping RF divergence among different regions in China.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0070368