The uplift of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau and glacial oscillations triggered the diversification of Tetraogallus (Galliformes, Phasianidae)

Abstract

The Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) plays an important role in avian diversification. To reveal the relationship between the QTP uplift and avian diversification since the Late Cenozoic, here, we analyzed the phylogenetic relationship and biogeographical pattern of the genus Tetraogallus (Galliformes, Phasianidae) and the probable factors of speciation in the period of the QTP uplift inferred from concatenated data of four nuclear and five mitochondrial genes using the method of the Bayesian inference. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that T. himalayensis had a close relationship with T. altaicus and conflicted with the previous taxonomy of dark‐bellied and white‐bellied groups. The molecular clock showed that the speciation of Tetraogallus was profoundly affected by the uplift of the QTP and glacial oscillations. Biogeographic analysis suggested that the extant snowcocks originated from the QTP, and the QTP uplift and glacial oscillations triggered the diversification of Tetraogallus ancestor. Specifically, the uplift of the mountain provided a prerequisite for the colonization of snowcocks Tetraogallus as a result of the collision between the Indian and the Arab plates and the Eurasian plate, in which ecological isolation (the glacial and interglacial periods alternate) and geographical barrier had accelerated the Tetraogallus diversification process. Interestingly, we discovered hybrids between T. tibetanus and T. himalayensis for the first time and suggested that T. tibetanus and T. himalayensis hybridized after a second contact during the glacial period. Here, we proposed that the hybrid offspring was the ancestor of the T. altaicus. In conclusion, the uplift of QTP and glacial oscillations triggered the snowcocks colonization, and then, isolation and introgression hybridization promoted diversification.

The East Asian Winter Monsoon Acts as a Major Selective Factor in the Intraspecific Differentiation of Drought-Tolerant Nitraria tangutorum in Northwest China

“…It is widely believed that the range of a large proportion of alpine species contracted under glacial oscillations, and that this phenomenon accelerated the process of genetic divergence. This premise has been documented in many species of plants [ 16 , 19 , 39 , 48 , 49 ] and animals [ 50 , 51 , 52 ]. Two bioclimate factors, ‘precipitation’ and ‘temperature’, were greatly reduced during the LGM [ 53 ], and have been identified as the major factors determining suitable distribution ranges for N. tangutorum ( Supplementary Table S4 ).…”

No hybrid snowcocks in the Altai—Hyper‐variable markers can be problematic for phylogenetic inference

“…In a recent paper on the diversification of Tetraogallus snowcocks (Galliformes, Phasianidae), Ding et al ( 2020 ) reported on the discovery of three putative hybrid individuals that they supposed to have originated from a hybridization event between the Himalayan snowcock ( T . himalayensis ) and the Tibetan snowcock ( T .…”

“…himalayensis based on their phenotype. However, in Ding et al’s ( 2020 ) re‐analysis of the D‐loop data set by Wang et al ( 2011 ), the two crucial T . himalayensis sequences (H35 and H36) clustered with T .…”

“…tibetanus . Ding et al ( 2020 ) took this as firm evidence of having detected previously undocumented hybrid specimens that must have originated from a putative recent event when “the male T . himalayensis hybridized with the female T .…”

“…himalayensis hybridized with the female T . tibetanus .” To be precise, at this stage of analysis, Ding et al ( 2020 ) were discussing two snowcock specimens that someone else had identified as Himalayan snowcocks, T . himalayensis , and that contrary to expectations, they believed to carry a mitochondrial haplotype of another species‐level lineage, that is, that of the Tibetan snowcock, T .…”