Comparative phylogeography of two sister species of snowcock: impacts of species-specific altitude preference and life history

Abstract

Background: Phylogeographical patterns and population dynamics are usually interpreted by environmental disturbances and geographic barriers of the past. However, sister species may exhibit disparate patterns of genetic structures and population dynamics due to their habitat preference and altitude segregation. In this study, we tested how species-specific altitude habitat affected phylogeographical patterns in two sister snowcock species, Tibetan (Tetraogallus tibetanus) and Himalayan Snowcocks (T. himalayensis). Methods: A panel of seven microsatellite loci and a fragment of Mitochondrial DNA Control Region were used to investigate genetic structures and population dynamics in hope of revealing the underlying evolutionary processes through the identification of possible past demographic events. Results: Our results suggest that T. himalayensis showed a significant phylogeographical signal in mtDNA (F ST = 0.66, p < 0.001) and microsatellite (F ST = 0.11, p < 0.001) data and is stable during the glacial-interglacial cycles in the Pleistocene and followed demographic contraction until 0.003 million years (Mys) ago. The phylogeographical signal of T. tibetanus is lower than the level of genetic difference among populations in mtDNA (F ST = 0.41, p < 0.001) and microsatellite (F ST = 0.09, p < 0.001) data, likely benefiting from stable habitats over a long period of time. T. tibetanus has been experiencing expansion since 0.09 Mys ago. However, an abnormally haplotype H9 from T. himalayensis clustering with T. tibetanus was spotted. Conclusion: Our results indicate that differences in habitat preference and altitude specialities were reflected in the genetic structure patterns and population dynamics of these two species. These dissimilarities in life history traits might have affected the dispersal and survival abilities of these two species differently during environmental fluctuations. The results of this study also enriched our knowledge on population differentiation and connectivity in high altitude mountain ecosystems.

No hybrid snowcocks in the Altai—Hyper‐variable markers can be problematic for phylogenetic inference

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Molecular systematics of the Sicista tianschanica species complex: a contribution from historical DNA analysis

“…This evidence contributes to our knowledge of the phylogeography of the Tianshan region, which is still grossly understudied. The available phylogeographic data on terrestrial vertebrates are fragmentary ( Zhou, Turdy & Halik, 2015 ; Orlova et al, 2017 ; An et al, 2020 ) and do not include any cases for small mammals.…”

Slow and steady wins the race: contrasted phylogeographic signatures in two Alpine amphibians

“…2016; An et al . 2020). In parallel, historical events like the Quaternary glaciations also strongly affected intraspecific diversity, often in a similar way across species assemblages (Hewitt 2000; Rissler & Smith 2010; Fouquet et al .…”

“…Alvarez et al 2009;Austerlitz et al 2000;Moyle 2006) and animals (e. g. Peterson & Denno 1998;Bohonak 1999;Carnaval 2002;Galarza et al 2009;Fang et al 2017). Reciprocally, divergent biological traits were invoked to explain incongruent phylogeographic signals among closely related taxa (Nieto Feliner 2011;Correa-Ribeiro et al 2016;An et al 2020). In parallel, historical events like the Quaternary glaciations also strongly affected intraspecific diversity, often in a similar way across species assemblages (Hewitt 2000;Rissler & Smith 2010;Fouquet et al 2012), but not exclusively (e.g.…”