Over-water dispersal of lizards due to hurricanes

Censky, Ellen J.; Hodge, Karim; Dudley, Judy

doi:10.1038/26886

Cited by 226 publications

(153 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…However, according to explicit palaeogeographic reconstructions, prevailing oceanic currents promoted dispersal from Africa to Madagascar, and not in the inverse direction, at that time [23,24]. Direct observations of long-distance oceanic dispersal demonstrate that direction of currents may be key to successful dispersal among terrestrial vertebrates [25][26][27][28]. Given these considerations, an African origin for chameleons is not only plausible, but is also consistent with the fossil record, present day distributions and oceanographic processes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Large-scale phylogeny of chameleons suggests African origins and Eocene diversification

2013

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Oceanic dispersal has emerged as an important factor contributing to biogeographic patterns in numerous taxa. Chameleons are a clear example of this, as they are primarily found in Africa and Madagascar, but the age of the family is post-Gondwanan break-up. A Malagasy origin for the family has been suggested, yet this hypothesis has not been tested using modern biogeographic methods with a dated phylogeny. To examine competing hypotheses of African and Malagasy origins, we generated a dated phylogeny using between six and 13 genetic markers, for up to 174 taxa representing greater than 90 per cent of all named species. Using three different ancestralstate reconstruction methods (Bayesian and likelihood approaches), we show that the family most probably originated in Africa, with two separate oceanic dispersals to Madagascar during the Palaeocene and the Oligocene, when prevailing oceanic currents would have favoured eastward dispersal. Diversification of genus-level clades took place in the Eocene, and species-level diversification occurred primarily in the Oligocene. Plio-Pleistocene speciation is rare, resulting in a phylogeny dominated by palaeo-endemic species. We suggest that contraction and fragmentation of the Pan-African forest coupled to an increase in open habitats (savannah, grassland, heathland), since the Oligocene played a key role in diversification of this group through vicariance.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Large-scale phylogeny of chameleons suggests African origins and Eocene diversification

2013

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“…However, not all of these species disperse easily across open ocean. For example, frogs and lizards relocate by rafting [41,42]. Colonization of the West Indies by reptiles and amphibians from continental areas of the Caribbean Basin has been infrequent, at intervals of perhaps 0.75 My judging from age distributions of island lineages [43,44].…”

Section: Evidence For Reverse Colonizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are islands the end of the colonization road?

Bellemain¹,

Ricklefs²

2008

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

186

167

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“…island) biotas [1 -4], with the wide distributions of many 'nondispersive' coastal species frequently accredited to this phenomenon [5]. Direct observations of rafting fauna, however, have been extremely rare [6 -9], and the origins [7,8] and destinations [6,9] of rafts have remained largely speculative. Indeed, the importance of rafting is more typically invoked on the basis of observations of detached macroalgae and other flotsam at sea [10 -20], or macroalgal fragments washed ashore [21,22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oceanic rafting by a coastal community

2010

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Oceanic rafting is thought to play a fundamental role in assembling the biological communities of isolated coastal ecosystems. Direct observations of this key ecological and evolutionary process are, however, critically lacking. The importance of macroalgal rafting as a dispersal mechanism has remained uncertain, largely owing to lack of knowledge about the capacity of fauna to survive long voyages at sea and successfully make landfall and establish. Here, we directly document the rafting of a diverse assemblage of intertidal organisms across several hundred kilometres of open ocean, from the subantarctic to mainland New Zealand. Multispecies analyses using phylogeographic and ecological data indicate that 10 epifaunal invertebrate species rafted on six large bull kelp specimens for several weeks from the subantarctic Auckland and/or Snares Islands to the Otago coast of New Zealand, a minimum distance of some 400 -600 km. These genetic data are the first to demonstrate that passive rafting can enable simultaneous trans-oceanic transport and landfall of numerous coastal taxa.

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Over-water dispersal of lizards due to hurricanes

Cited by 226 publications

References 2 publications

Large-scale phylogeny of chameleons suggests African origins and Eocene diversification

Large-scale phylogeny of chameleons suggests African origins and Eocene diversification

Are islands the end of the colonization road?

Oceanic rafting by a coastal community

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