Genetic, phenotypic and ecological differentiation suggests incipient speciation in two Charadrius plovers along the Chinese coast

BMC Evolutionary Biology

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[1] 0000 0001 0726 5157, grid.5734.5, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 6, 3012, Bern, Switzerland;0000 0001 2223 3006, grid.419765.8, Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Genopode, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland;0000 0001 2360 039X, grid.12981.33, State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Department of Ecology, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, 510275, Guangzhou, China;0000 0001 2360 039X, grid.12981.33, State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Department of Ecology, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, 510275, Guangzhou, China;0000 0001 0726 5157, grid.5734.5, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 6, 3012, Bern, Switzerland;0000 0001 2360 039X, grid.12981.33, State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Department of Ecology, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, 510275, Guangzhou, China;0000 0001 2162 1699, grid.7340.0, Milner Center for Evolution, Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, BA1 7AY, Bath, UK;0000 0004 1789 9964, grid.20513.35, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, 100875, Beijing, China;0000000119573309, grid.9227.e, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 610041, Chengdu, China;0000000121742757, grid.194645.b, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR, China;Department of Environmental Science, Tunhai University, Taichun, Taiwan;La Ferté Saint Aubin, France;

关键词: Parapatry;    Character displacement;    Gene flow;    Hybridization;    Stable isotope analysis;    Ecological niche;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12862-019-1449-5

来源: publisher

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundSpeciation with gene flow is an alternative to the nascence of new taxa in strict allopatric separation. Indeed, many taxa have parapatric distributions at present. It is often unclear if these are secondary contacts, e.g. caused by past glaciation cycles or the manifestation of speciation with gene flow, which hampers our understanding of how different forces drive diversification. Here we studied genetic, phenotypic and ecological aspects of divergence in a pair of incipient shorebird species, the Kentish (Charadrius alexandrinus) and the White-faced Plovers (C. dealbatus), shorebirds with parapatric breeding ranges along the Chinese coast. We assessed divergence based on molecular markers with different modes of inheritance and quantified phenotypic and ecological divergence in aspects of morphometric, dietary and climatic niches.ResultsOur integrative analyses revealed small to moderate levels of genetic and phenotypic distinctiveness with symmetric gene flow across the contact area at the Chinese coast. The two species diverged approximately half a million years ago in dynamic isolation with secondary contact occurring due to cycling sea level changes between the Eastern and Southern China Sea in the mid-late Pleistocene. We found evidence of character displacement and ecological niche differentiation between the two species, invoking the role of selection in facilitating divergence despite gene flow.ConclusionThese findings imply that ecology can indeed counter gene flow through divergent selection and thus contributes to incipient speciation in these plovers. Furthermore, our study highlights the importance of using integrative datasets to reveal the evolutionary history and assist the inference of mechanisms of speciation.

【 授权许可】

CC BY