Disparity in the timing of vertebrate diversification events between the northern and southern hemispheres

BMC Evolutionary Biology

Research Article

Sylvain Dubey¹  Reid Tingley² 

[1] Department of Ecology and Evolution, Biophore Bld, University of Lausanne, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland;School of Botany, University of Melbourne, 3010, Melbourne, VIC, Australia;

关键词: Climate change;    Dispersal;    Ectotherm;    Endotherm;    Genetic diversity;    Glaciation;    Intraspecific diversification;    Quaternary;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2148-12-244

 received in 2012-07-18, accepted in 2012-12-12,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundClimatic oscillations throughout the Quaternary had profound effects on temperate biodiversity, but the extent of Quaternary climate change was more severe in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere than in the southern hemisphere. We sought to determine whether this geographic disparity differentially influenced the timing of intraspecific diversification events within ectothermic and endothermic vertebrate species. Using published phylogenetic hypotheses, we gathered data on the oldest intraspecific diversification event within mammal, bird, freshwater fish, amphibian, and reptile species from temperate-zone areas. We then tested whether the timing of diversification events differed between hemispheres.ResultsOur analyses provide strong evidence that vertebrates from temperate regions of the northern hemisphere are younger than those from the southern hemisphere. However, we find little evidence to suggest that this relationship differs between endotherms versus ectotherms, or that it varies widely across the five classes of vertebrates that we considered. In addition, we find that on average, endothermic species are much younger than ectothermic species.ConclusionOur findings suggest that geographic variation in the magnitude of climatic oscillations during the Quaternary led to substantial disparity in the timing of intraspecific diversification events between northern and southern hemisphere vertebrates, and that the magnitude of this divergence is largely congruent across vertebrate taxa.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Tingley and Dubey; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012