The lasting biological signature of Pliocene tectonics: Reviewing the re‐routing of Australia's largest river drainage system

Abstract

Aim Biological diversification can be substantially influenced by earth history. The links between biological and geological processes can be particularly tight for obligate freshwater biota. Here, we test for such links with respect to Pliocene shifts in drainage geometry of one of the Australia's largest river systems. Location Major rivers of south‐eastern Australia. Taxon Freshwater‐limited fishes and crayfish. Methods We synthesize recently published geological and freshwater phylogeographic data to elucidate the evolutionary history of south‐eastern Australia's major river drainages and their biotas. Results Recent data demonstrate how a major Pliocene drainage rearrangement event in the lower Murray‐Darling basin led to the evolution of a distinctive and “marooned” phylogeographic assemblage in the Glenelg and Wimmera drainages. Main conclusions Biological data from southern Australia illuminate the region's geological history, and vice versa. Our study highlights the persisting evolutionary effects of a major Pliocene drainage rearrangement. The lasting geological and biological preservation of such an ancient tectonic event is apparently facilitated by Australia's uniquely stable geological setting.

Variation in intraspecific demography drives localised concordance but species-wide discordance in responses to Plio-Pleistocene climatic change

“…These various aspects likely had significant impacts on the persistence and connectivity of freshwater lineages across the region [43]. This was supported by the high level of phylogenetic structure within N. australis, and the inferred migration pathways that correspond well to those previously suggested through ancient hydrological conduits [62]. Although phylogenetic patterns in N. obscura did not directly match the longitudinal gradient of populations, earlier phylogenetic analyses using allozymes preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder.…”

“…The temperate zone of southeast Australia has undergone significant environmental change since the Pliocene, owing to a combination of continent-wide aridification [24], eustatic changes [28] and major hydrological rearrangements [62]. These various aspects likely had significant impacts on the persistence and connectivity of freshwater lineages across the region [43].…”

The roles of aridification and sea level changes in the diversification and persistence of freshwater fish lineages

“…Aridification and tectonics through the formation and demise of paleo-megalake Bungunnia was a major event impacting the evolutionary history of inland lineages of N. australis (Figure 6, Model 3A). Lake Bungunnia & Austin, 2004;Waters et al, 2019). Similar interpretations of tectonic changes influencing river capture have been proposed for movement across other sections of the Great Dividing Range into the MDB (Cook et al, 2006;Faulks et al, 2010;McGlashan, 2001;Murphy & Austin, 2004).…”

Does migration promote or inhibit diversification? A case study involving the dominant radiation of temperate Southern Hemisphere freshwater fishes

“…The other main group with strong association to the hidden state with higher rates of speciation, extinction, and diversification is the G. olidus complex, comprising at least 15 species. However, this group has neither recent ancestry with an extant diadromous lineage nor occupies regions of particularly dynamic geomorphological history (but see Holdgate et al 2008;Waters et al 2019). The majority of the representatives of the G. olidus complex are narrowly distributed, with only four morewidespread species showing genetic evidence for recent intra-or intercatchment dispersal (Adams et al 2014).…”

“…The same pattern holds with respect to diadromous versus nondiadromous populations within facultatively diadromous species (Ovenden and White 1990;Waters et al 2002;Delgado et al 2019). Genetic differentiation among and within nondiadromous lineages is often substantially influenced by geomorphological and climatic processes (Waters et al, , 2010(Waters et al, , 2015(Waters et al, , 2019Burridge et al, 2006Burridge et al, , 2007Craw et al, 2012Craw et al, , 2016a.…”