Demographic history and niche conservatism of tropical rainforest trees separated along an altitudinal gradient of a biogeographic barrier
Rohan Mellick A C , Peter D. Wilson A B and Maurizio Rossetto A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A National Herbarium of NSW, The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia.
B Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2019, Australia.
C Corresponding author. Email: rohan.mellick@csiro.au
Australian Journal of Botany 62(5) 438-450 https://doi.org/10.1071/BT14103
Submitted: 14 May 2014 Accepted: 12 September 2014 Published: 16 October 2014
Abstract
The genetic disjunctions and distributions of long-lived species provide valuable signatures of past demographic response to environmental change. Here we use genetic markers to study two Elaeocarpus species from the Australian Wet Tropics to understand changes in palaeodistribution and demography associated with environmental change on either side of the Black Mountain Corridor (BMC). Contrasting the genetic structure of species with different distributions along altitudinal gradients is important to explore some of the environmental drivers of adaptive evolution. Using coalescent-based molecular and environmental niche models, we investigate the demographic history of two long-lived, altitudinally differentiated species that were previously identified as genetically divergent across the BMC. The origin of the genetic disjunction across the BMC is inferred to have occurred during the last glacial cycle in relation to 13 combined molecular histories of both plastid and nuclear loci. Interestingly, whereas midland populations show a dynamic history of expansion and contraction, the highland populations do not. Molecular history and environmental niche models show the populations north of the BMC have remained relatively stable over time in response to environmental change. Populations south of the BMC have been more dynamic in response to environmental change. These differences are likely to highlight the topographical character and environmental heterogeneity of areas separated by the BMC.
Additional keywords: ancestral gene flow, Australian Wet Tropics, Black Mountain Corridor, Elaeocarpus, molecular history, niche conservatism, palaeodistribution modelling, population expansion and contraction.
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