“Into and Out of” the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau and the Himalayas: Centers of origin and diversification across five clades of Eurasian montane and alpine passerine birds

Päckert, Martin; Favre, Adrien; Schnitzler, Jan; Martens, Jochen; Sun, Yue‐Hua; Tietze, Dieter Thomas; Hailer, Frank; Michalak, Ingo; Strutzenberger, Patrick

doi:10.1002/ece3.6615

Cited by 30 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 111 publications

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“…Ancestral Trait Reconstruction of Elevation and Body Mass. We performed an ancestral trait reconstruction using a well-established phylogeny of Passeridae (24), which includes all 27 species from seven genera: Montifringilla, Onychostruthus, Pyrgilauda, Petronia, Gymnoris, Passer, and Hypocryptadius. We collected the elevation records from eBird (https://ebird.org/) and China Bird Reports (http://www.birdreport.cn).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Compared to most of their closest relatives among the Old World Sparrows (Passeridae), the snowfinches have a larger body size, darker plumage, and increased metabolic rate ( 20 , 21 ). Previous studies suggested that snowfinches, consisting of the three genera of Montifringilla , Onychostruthus , and Pyrgilauda , form a monophyletic group ( 22 – 24 ). It is therefore possible that the observed similarities in phenotypic adaptations to high elevation are inherited from their common ancestor, assuming that the ancestral species had already adapted to this high-elevation environment.…”

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confidence: 99%

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The evolution of ancestral and species-specific adaptations in snowfinches at the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

Chen

et al. 2021

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Species in a shared environment tend to evolve similar adaptations under the influence of their phylogenetic context. Using snowfinches, a monophyletic group of passerine birds (Passeridae), we study the relative roles of ancestral and species-specific adaptations to an extreme high-elevation environment, the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. Our ancestral trait reconstruction shows that the ancestral snowfinch occupied high elevations and had a larger body mass than most nonsnowfinches in Passeridae. Subsequently, this phenotypic adaptation diversified in the descendant species. By comparing high-quality genomes from representatives of the three phylogenetic lineages, we find that about 95% of genes under positive selection in the descendant species are different from those in the ancestor. Consistently, the biological functions enriched for these species differ from those of their ancestor to various degrees (semantic similarity values ranging from 0.27 to 0.5), suggesting that the three descendant species have evolved divergently from the initial adaptation in their common ancestor. Using a functional assay to a highly selective gene, DTL, we demonstrate that the nonsynonymous substitutions in the ancestor and descendant species have improved the repair capacity of ultraviolet-induced DNA damage. The repair kinetics of the DTL gene shows a twofold to fourfold variation across the ancestor and the descendants. Collectively, this study reveals an exceptional case of adaptive evolution to high-elevation environments, an evolutionary process with an initial adaptation in the common ancestor followed by adaptive diversification of the descendant species.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

The evolution of ancestral and species-specific adaptations in snowfinches at the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

Chen

et al. 2021

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…To estimate the spatio‐temporal origins of species endemic to the TP, we compiled the ancestral ranges and age estimates of dispersal events of TP species based on the DEC models. Although the dispersal events might have involved both ‘into TP’ dispersals and ‘out of TP’ dispersals (Deng et al., 2020; Päckert et al., 2020), we only considered the ‘into TP’ dispersal events that represented the first establishment of a specific clade on the TP. Given that all of the terrestrial organisms here should have originated outside the TP, the ‘into TP’ dispersal events could be expected to have occurred earlier than the ‘out of TP’ dispersal events.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…55–50 million years ago (Ma) due to the Indo–Asian collision (Hu, Garzanti, et al., 2016; Royden et al., 2008). As such, species endemic to the TP are expected to have colonized from surrounding regions followed by vicariant speciation and diversification (Päckert et al., 2020; Wen et al., 2014). However, given that strong reconfiguration of the geographical setting and atmospheric circulation have profoundly altered the biota on the TP over the past 50 Myr (He et al., 2020; Mosbrugger et al., 2018), the origins of these species and their time of arrival on the TP remain unclear.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Understanding the factors influencing the source regions of endemic TP species is challenging owing to the complex interactions between historical and ecological drivers (Mosbrugger et al., 2018; Päckert et al., 2020). In general, the colonization success of the disperser strongly decreases with geographical distance based on the island biogeography theory (MacArthur & Wilson, 1967); briefly, more opportunities exist for species to colonize the TP from shorter distances.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Geological and climatic histories likely shaped the origins of terrestrial vertebrates endemic to the Tibetan Plateau

Lin

Ding

et al. 2021

Global Ecol. Biogeogr.

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Aim The Tibetan Plateau (TP) hosts many endemic species, but questions regarding when and from where these species originated have not been comprehensively answered. Here, we provide a synthesis of the biogeographical history of terrestrial vertebrates endemic to the TP and investigate the potential drivers of their spatio‐temporal origins. Location Tibetan Plateau and its surrounding regions. Time period Cenozoic. Major taxa studied Terrestrial vertebrates. Methods We used dispersal–extinction–cladogenesis models based on time‐calibrated phylogenies to reconstruct the ancestral ranges of 174 endemic TP species and compiled the ancestral ranges and age estimates of their dispersal events. We generated a possibility map of source areas for endemic TP species by counting the incidence of non‐TP sister clades in 110 km × 110 km grid cells. We used generalized linear mixed models to assess the relative importance of historical processes and environmental factors in explaining the geographical variations in the source areas. We created subsets based on four vertebrate classes to test whether the dispersal events varied spatially and temporally among taxonomic groups. Results We found that the endemic species colonized the TP as early as 55 Ma, and that the main colonization phase started to increase around 15 Ma and peaked after 6 Ma. The major source areas of endemic TP species include the Hengduan Mountains, the Himalayas, and Central Asia. Elevation difference had the strongest effect on the source areas, followed by geographical distance. The spatio‐temporal origins of species endemic to the TP and the potential drivers showed significant differences among vertebrate classes. Main conclusions Our study supports the hypothesis that endemic TP species originated from various zoogeographical regions at different times and highlights the important roles of the TP uplift and past climatic changes for determining the spatio‐temporal origins of endemic TP species.

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Genomic analysis reveals deep population divergence in the water snake Trimerodytes percarinatus (Serpentes, Natricidae)

Lyu,

Liu,

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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Although several phylogeographic studies of Asian snakes have been conducted, most have focused on pitvipers, with non‐venomous snakes, such as colubrids or natricids, remaining poorly studied. The Chinese keelback water snake (Trimerodytes percarinatus Boulenger) is a widespread, semiaquatic, non‐venomous species occurring in China and southeastern Asia. Based on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data, we explored the population genetic structure, genetic diversity, and evolutionary history of this species. MtDNA‐based phylogenetic analysis showed that T. percarinatus was composed of five highly supported and geographically structured lineages. SNP‐based phylogenetic analysis, principal component analysis, and population structure analysis consistently revealed four distinct, geographically non‐overlapping lineages, which was different from the mtDNA‐based analysis in topology. Estimation of divergence dates and ancestral area of origin suggest that T. percarinatus originated ~12.68 million years ago (95% highest posterior density: 10.36–15.96 Mya) in a region covering southwestern China and Vietnam. Intraspecific divergence may have been triggered by the Qinghai‐Xizang Plateau uplift. Population demographics and ecological niche modeling indicated that the effective population size fluctuated during 0.5 Mya and 0.002 Mya. Based on the data collected here, we also comment on the intraspecific taxonomy of T. percarinatus and question the validity of the subspecies T. p. suriki.

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“Into and Out of” the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau and the Himalayas: Centers of origin and diversification across five clades of Eurasian montane and alpine passerine birds

Cited by 30 publications

References 111 publications

The evolution of ancestral and species-specific adaptations in snowfinches at the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

The evolution of ancestral and species-specific adaptations in snowfinches at the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

Geological and climatic histories likely shaped the origins of terrestrial vertebrates endemic to the Tibetan Plateau

Genomic analysis reveals deep population divergence in the water snake Trimerodytes percarinatus (Serpentes, Natricidae)

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