Last glacial maximum led to community-wide population expansion in a monatane songbird radiation in highland Papua New Guinea

0531067 - BC 2021 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Garg, K. M. - Chattopadhyay, B. - Koane, B. - Sam, Kateřina - Rheindt, F. E.
Last glacial maximum led to community-wide population expansion in a monatane songbird radiation in highland Papua New Guinea.
BMC Evolutionary Biology. Roč. 20, č. 1 (2020), č. článku 82. ISSN 1471-2148. E-ISSN 1471-2148
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GJ18-23794Y
Institutional support: RVO:60077344
Keywords : quaternary glaciations * scrubwrens * Sericornis
OECD category: Ornithology
Impact factor: 3.260, year: 2020
Method of publishing: Open access
https://bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s12862-020-01646-z

BACKGROUND: Quaternary climate fluctuations are an engine of biotic diversification. Global cooling cycles, such as the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), are known to have fragmented the ranges of higher-latitude fauna and flora into smaller refugia, dramatically reducing species ranges. However, relatively less is known about the effects of cooling cycles on tropical biota.
RESULTS: We analyzed thousands of genome-wide DNA markers across an assemblage of three closely related understorey-inhabiting scrubwrens (Sericornis and Aethomyias, Aves) from montane forest along an elevational gradient on Mt. Wilhelm, the highest mountain of Papua New Guinea. Despite species-specific differences in elevational preference, we found limited differentiation within each scrubwren species, but detected a strong genomic signature of simultaneous population expansions at 27-29ka, coinciding with the onset of the LGM.
CONCLUSION: The remarkable synchronous timing of population expansions of all three species demonstrates the importance of global cooling cycles in expanding highland habitat. Global cooling cycles have likely had strongly different impacts on tropical montane areas versus boreal and temperate latitudes, leading to population expansions in the former and serious fragmentation in the latter.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0315298