Evolutionary history of Leptopelis tree frogs across the sky island system of Tanzania

0425605 - ÚBO 2014 CZ eng A - Abstrakt
Gvoždík, Václav - Mariaux, J. - Müller, M. - Menegon, M. - Loader, S. P.
Evolutionary history of Leptopelis tree frogs across the sky island system of Tanzania.
Zoologické dny Ostrava 2014: sborník abstraktů z konference 6.-7. února 2014. Brno: Ústav biologie obratlovců AV ČR, 2014 - (Bryja, J.; Drozd, P.). s. 64-65. ISBN 978-80-87189-16-0.
[Zoologické dny. 06.02.2014-07.02.2014, Ostrava]
Institucionální podpora: RVO:68081766
Klíčová slova: tree frogs * Tanzania
Kód oboru RIV: EG - Zoologie

The sky island system of the Eastern Arc Mountains and Southern Highlands of Tanzania is an ideal study area to study causalities of genotype and phenotype evolution in the context of unique montane environment. The area possesses high species and habitat diversity and has species with apparently widespread distributions across isolated mountains. Five Leptopelis species (Arthroleptidae) are distributed in the region: L. grandiceps, L. parkeri, L. uluguruensis and L. vermiculatus are confined to forest habitats scattered along different mountain blocks, typically at high elevations, while L. flavomaculatus is more widespread in lower and midelevations. A combination of multigene phylogeographical approaches, multivariate morphometric data, and fine-scale spatial tools of environmental niche modelling was applied to study evolutionary history of Leptopelis tree frogs in the sky island system. Genetic structure differs among species. The lowest variation is shown in the species occupying marginal forest habitats, and intermediate or high differentiation within the four highland forest species. Central region of the Eastern Arc Mountains (Ukaguru, Nguru, Uluguru Mts.) all harbour isolated lineages – potentially, in some cases, new species. The four montane species show well defined body shape differences. Only L. grandiceps and L. parkeri show partial overlap in the morphospace. Within species, populations from different mountains are similar in their body shape but some structure is detectable in species with high genetic differentiation. The environmental niche models support the hypothesis that there have been strong range fluctuations during the Pleistocene climatic changes, and such changes might have facilitated speciation patterns in both loweraltitude and montane Leptopelis species.
Trvalý link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0231472