Evolutionary history of the European free‐tailed bat, a tropical affinity species spanning across the Mediterranean Basin

Abstract

The Mediterranean Basin is a global biodiversity hotspot, hosting a number of native species belonging to families that are found almost exclusively in tropical climates.Yet, whether or not these taxa were able to survive in the Mediterranean region during the Quaternary climatic oscillations remains unknown. Focusing on the European free-tailed bat (Tadarida teniotis), we aimed to (a) identify potential ancient populations and glacial refugia; (b) determine the post-glacial colonization routes across the Mediterranean; and (c) evaluate current population structure and demography.Mitochondrial and nuclear markers were used to understand T. teniotis evolutionary and demographic history. We show that T. teniotis is likely restricted to the Western Palearctic, with mitochondrial phylogeny suggesting a split between an Anatolian/ Middle East clade and a European clade. Nuclear data pointed to three genetic populations, one of which is an isolated and highly differentiated group in the Canary Islands, another distributed across Iberia, Morocco, and France, and a third stretching from Italy to the east, with admixture following a pattern of isolation by distance.Evolutionary and demographic reconstruction supports a pre-Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) colonization of Italy and the Anatolian/Middle East, while the remaining populations were colonized from Italy after the Younger Dryas. We also found support for demographic expansion following the Iberian colonization. The results show that during the LGM T. teniotis persisted in Mediterranean refugia and has subsequently expanded to its current circum-Mediterranean range. Our findings raise questions regarding the physiological and ecological traits that enabled species with tropical affinities to survive in colder climates. K E Y W O R D Sbat, demographic history, Molossidae, phylogeography, population structure

Evolutionary insights intoRhinolophus episcopus(Chiroptera, Rhinolophidae) in China: Isolation by distance, environment, or sensory system?

“…Alternatively, physical barriers, such as mountains and rivers, were previously reported to have played important roles in bat adaptive evolution (Flanders, Wei, Rossiter, & Zhang, 2011; Kuo, Chen, Fang, Flanders, & Rossiter, 2014). However, other studies found that physical barriers may not influence bat diversification owing to their high dispersal ability (Amorim et al., 2019; Goodman, Maminirina, Bradman, Christidis, & Appleton, 2010; Liu, Sun, Park, & Feng, 2016; Weyeneth, Goodman, & Ruedi, 2011). In this study, a generally high level of nuclear gene flow was observed (Table ).…”

“…These conflicting findings may be caused by sex‐biased dispersal in bats (Amorim et al., 2019; Centeno‐Cuadros et al., 2019; Demos et al., 2019; Fornůsková et al., 2014; Moussy et al., 2013; Yoshino et al., 2008). Under the pattern that involves male dispersal but female philopatry, nuclear differentiation covaried with geographic distance over a large scale (Figure c) because of the long‐distance movements of male bats and caused a spatial pattern of IBD (Moussy et al., 2013).…”

Crowding after sudden habitat loss affects demography and social structure in a bat population

“…This approach assumes that genetic relatedness that differs from the expected, provides a proxy for the disruption of social structure at breeding colonies through the arrival of new individuals (Wilkinson et al, 2019). To calculate genetic relatedness, we genotyped 1,407 individuals at 14 polymorphic microsatellites, following the procedures in Amorim, Razgour, et al (2020) and described in Appendix D. Relatedness analyses were done using CoanCestRy software (Wang, 2011) and Related R package (Pew et al, 2015), assuming Wang's estimator (Appendix D). To test for significant differences in genetic relatedness, we first computed the observed average relatedness difference between each 'period' (before, during and after) at each 'location' (near vs. far).…”

“…This study tests expectations regarding the consequences of population crowding, defined here as a transient influx of individuals to refuges after habitat loss. We focus on a new hydroelectric reservoir (Baixo Sabor; NE Portugal) and the European free‐tailed bat Tadarida teniotis , a medium‐sized, crevice‐dwelling insectivorous bat, with a core distribution in the Mediterranean region (Amorim, Razgour, et al., 2020). The European free‐tailed bat provided a convenient model to test population‐level consequences of crowding, because it roosts in rocky crevices along the river valley flooded by the hydroelectric dam, but also in bridges not affected by flooding (Amorim et al., 2015; LEA, 2014).…”