The legacy of Eastern Mediterranean mountain uplifts: rapid disparity of phylogenetic niche conservatism and divergence in mountain vipers

Abstract

Background The orogeny of the eastern Mediterranean region has substantially affected ecological speciation patterns, particularly of mountain-dwelling species. Mountain vipers of the genus Montivipera are among the paramount examples of Mediterranean neo-endemism, with restricted ranges in the mountains of Anatolia, the Levant, Caucasus, Alborz, and Zagros. Here we explore the phylogenetic and ecological diversification of Montivipera to reconstruct its ecological niche evolution and biogeographic history. Using 177 sequences of three mitochondrial genes, a dated molecular phylogeny of mountain vipers was reconstructed. Based on 320 occurrence points within the entire range of the genus and six climatic variables, ecological niches were modelled and used to infer ancestral niche occupancy. In addition, the biogeographic history and ancestral states of the species were reconstructed across climate gradients. Results Dated phylogenetic reconstruction revealed that the ancestor of mountain vipers split into two major clades at around 12.18 Mya followed by multiple vicariance events due to rapid orogeny. Montivipera colonised coastal regions from a mountain-dwelling ancestor. We detected a highly complex ecological niche evolution of mountain vipers to temperature seasonality, a variable that also showed a strong phylogenetic signal and high contribution in niche occupation. Conclusion Raising mountain belts in the Eastern Mediterranean region and subsequent remarkable changes in temperature seasonality have led to the formation of important centres of diversification and endemism in this biodiversity hotspot. High rates of niche conservatism, low genetic diversity, and segregation of ranges into the endemic distribution negatively influenced the adaptive capacity of mountain vipers. We suggest that these species should be considered as evolutionary significant units and priority species for conservation in Mediterranean mountain ecosystems.

New Evidence on the Linkage of Population Trends and Species Traits to Long-Term Niche Changes

“…The quantification of the realized niche of a species [1] (sensu Grinnell [2][3][4][5], hereafter niche) and how it varies across space and time has received increasing attention in ecological Birds 2022, 3 150 studies, with important implications in evolution, biogeography, and conservation [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Many studies have focused on niche evolution in related taxa [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23], or on niche quantification of alien species to assess their potential as invaders in non-native ranges [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32].…”

MaxEnt brings comparable results when the input data is being completed; model parameterization and background manipulation of four species distribution models

“…However, niche inflation is more challenging for general species with abundant data (Randin et al, 2006). Moreover, the narrow-ranged mountain vipers, in general, and the species/sub-species belonging to the Raddei clade, in specific, show low rates of niche evolution and high degrees of niche conservatism (Ahmadi et al, 2021) that leads to the occupation of similar ecological conditions in this species.…”

New distribution data and phylogenetic approach reveal bioregionalization of the western Palearctic ants

“…Compared to the northern part of the western Palearctic realm, Mediterranean regions have more islands and varied topography, which may be responsible for restricting ant distributions (Figure 4). Especially for the East Mediterranean region, its remarkable uniqueness in species composition and biogeographic isolation could also be the consequence of complex topography and geological history (Vitali & Schmitt, 2017; Ficetola et al, 2018; Ahmadi et al, 2021; Kiran & Karaman, 2021). Thus, the dispersal limitation may explain why geographic barriers (e.g., mountains and seas) represent major boundaries separating biogeographic regions and subregions of the western Palearctic ants (Ficetola, Mazel & Thuiller, 2017).…”

“…High reliability of clusters is indicated by higher ASW and lower KGS, and mean instability. We defined the biogeographic regions as regions characterized by distinct and coherent ant assemblages that can be delineated clearly in space (Kreft & Jetz, 2010; Morrone, 2018; He et al, 2021). We also used the R package phyloregion (Daru, Karunarathne & Schliep, 2020) to visualize regionalization patterns.…”