African rodents - important biogeographical model group despite poor

0431900 - ÚBO 2015 PT eng A - Abstract
Bryja, Josef - Aghová, Tatiana - Mikula, Ondřej - Mazoch, V. - Šumbera, R.
African rodents - important biogeographical model group despite poor.
14th Rodens et Spatium - Book of abstracts. Lisbon: -, 2014. s. 28.
[Rodens et Spatium /14./. 28.07.2014-02.08.2014, Lisbon]
Institutional support: RVO:68081766
Keywords : rodents * Eastern Africa
Subject RIV: EG - Zoology
http://rslisbon2014.wix.com/conference

Most of African rodent species richness was described on the basis of morphology (especially skulls), while the genetic approaches have been used more widely only in the last decade, leading to discoveries of new cryptic species and corrections of the alpha diversity. Most species of rodents have relatively narrow habitat requirements, low dispersal ability and are easy to sample, which makes them an ideal model also for phylogeographical studies. However, most of these studies are either focused on relatively small geographical area and/or analyses only few individuals. Recently increased intensity of genetic sampling in many parts of Africa together with the use of new approaches for genotyping of museum collections provide an ideal tool for the description of real African biodiversity of rodents. Newly developed statistical approaches for testing phylogeographical hypotheses further facilitate to understand the mechanisms of biodiversity evolution in last cca 5 My. Within a 5-yr project supported by the Czech Science Foundation, we genetically studied rodents in the large area of Eastern Africa. The aim of the presentation is to show, how a single project using simple genetic approaches can lead to unexpectedly high quantity of new knowledge about African rodents, from discoveries of new species, through single-species phylogeographies to the understanding of many aspects of pan-African biogeography evolution.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0236471