Pleistocene sea level fluctuation and host plant habitat requirement influenced the historical phylogeography of the invasive species Amphiareus obscuriceps (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) in its native range

Abstract

BackgroundOn account of repeated exposure and submergence of the East China Sea (ECS) land bridge, sea level fluctuation played an important role in shaping the population structure of many temperate species across the ECS during the glacial period. The flower bug Amphiareus obscuriceps (Poppius, 1909) (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) is an invasive species native to the Sino-Japanese Region (SJR) of East Asia. We tested the hypothesis of the ECS land bridge acting as a dispersal corridor or filter for A. obscuriceps during the glacial period. Specifically, we tested whether and the extent to which dispersal ability and host plant habitat requirement influenced the genetic structure of A. obscuriceps during the exposure of the ECS land bridge.ResultsPhylogenetic and network analyses indicated that A. obscuriceps is composed of two major lineages, i.e., China and Japan. Divergence time on both sides of the ECS was estimated to be approximately 1.07 (0.79–1.32) Ma, which was about the same period that the sea level increased. No significant Isolation by Distance (IBD) relationship was found between Фst and Euclidean distances in the Mantel tests, which is consistent with the hypothesis that this species has a good dispersal ability. Our Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) niche modeling of plants that constitute preferred habitats for A. obscuriceps exhibited a similar habitat gap on the exposed ECS continental shelf between China and Japan, but showed a continuous distribution across the Taiwan Strait.ConclusionOur results suggest that ecological properties (habitat requirement and dispersal ability), together with sea level fluctuation during the Pleistocene across the ECS, have shaped the genetic structure and demographic history of A. obscuriceps in its native area. The host plant habitat requirement could also be a key to the colonization of the A. obscuriceps species during the exposure of the ECS land bridge. Our findings will shed light on the potential role of habitat requirement in the process of biological invasion in future studies.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-016-0748-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Morphological variation, genetic differentiation and phylogeography of the East Asia cicada Hyalessa maculaticollis (Hemiptera: Cicadidae)

“…Historically, the glacial cycles of the Quaternary led to climatic oscillation and sea‐level fluctuation, and had a significant effect on the evolutionary history and contemporary distribution patterns of current species in northern China, even though this area was not completely covered by ice sheets (Williams et al ., ; Zhang et al ., ). Results of our study indicate that the differentiation of populations of H. maculaticollis between mainland China and Japan took place ∼1.05 (95% CI = 00.89–1.30) Ma.…”

“…The abovementioned results indicate that the climatic oscillation and terrain structure in East Asia influenced the population differentiation of H. maculaticollis , and the population structure has been shaped by the repeated exposure and submergence of the ECS land bridge (Zhang et al ., ).…”

“…The eastern areas of the Sino‐Japanese region, stretching along more than 1500 km in an east–west direction, range from East China to Japan and the Korean Peninsula, and to Taiwan and the Ryukyu Islands (Holt et al ., ). On account of sea‐level fluctuation during the glacial period, the repeated exposure and submergence of the East China Sea (ECS) land bridge played an important role in shaping the population structure of many species (Zhang et al ., ). Moreover, the mosaic of mountains formed the complex contemporary terrain structure of East Asia.…”

“…Studying the spatial genetic structure of a species is crucial to knowing current population genetic processes and predicting the potential of populations to respond to selection and divergent environmental conditions (De Jong et al ., ; Scarpassa et al ., ). Phylogenetic methods have been widely applied to various kinds of insects, such as the grass‐cutting ant Acromyrmex striatus (Cristiano et al ., ), Amphiareus obscuriceps (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) (Zhang et al ., ), and some New Zealand and Mediterranean cicadas (Arensburger et al ., ; Pinto‐Juma et al ., ; Marshall et al ., , , ), and has provided solid evidence for past biogeographical events.…”

Local environmental selection and lineage admixture act as significant mechanisms in the adaptation of the widespread East Asian pond skaterGerris latiabdoministo heterogeneous landscapes

“…Evidence from previous phylogeographical studies in this region has uncovered the genetic diversities, phylogeographical structures, demographical histories and related influencing factors of many widespread taxa (e.g. Yin et al, ; Zhang et al, ). However, conclusions from previous studies mostly relied on mitochondrial DNA or a small number of nuclear neutral loci.…”