Abstract
Background. The subtropical island of Taiwan is an area of high endemism and a complex topographic environment. Phylogeographic studies indicate that vicariance caused by Taiwan's mountains has subdivided many taxa into genetic phylogroups. We used mitochondrial DNA sequences and nuclear microsatellites to test whether the evolutionary history of an endemic montane bird, Steere's Liocichla (Liocichla steerii), fit the general vicariant paradigm for a montane organism. Results. We found that while mountains appear to channel gene flow they are not a significant barrier for Steere's Liocichla. Recent demographic expansion was evident, and genetic diversity was relatively high across the island, suggesting expansion from multiple areas rather than a few isolated refugia. Ecological niche modeling corroborated the molecular results and suggested that populations of Steere's Liocichla are connected by climatically suitable habitat and that there was less suitable habitat during the Last Glacial Maximum. Conclusions. Genetic and ecological niche modeling data corroborate a single history - Steere's Liocichla was at lower density during the Last Glacial Maximum and has subsequently expanded in population density. We suggest that such a range-wide density expansion might be an overlooked cause for the genetic patterns of demographic expansion that are regularly reported. We find significant differences among some populations in FSTindices and an admixture analysis. Though both of these results are often used to suggest conservation action, we affirm that statistically significant results are not necessarily biologically meaningful and we urge caution when interpreting highly polymorphic data such as microsatellites.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 71 |
Journal | BMC evolutionary biology |
Volume | 10 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2010 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:B. Zink, H. Vazquez, C.-M. Huang, and three anonymous reviewers made significant improvements to the manuscript. J. Corander assisted with the BAPS program. Fu-Hsiung Hsu and Pei-Fen Lee provided occurrence data. The Taiwan Endemic Species Research Institute helped collect samples. Work was supported under NSF-OISE 0307421 (HLM) and an NSF EAPSI fellowship to Taiwan (BDM). This work was performed in compliance of the laws and regulations of Taiwan and the United States. Birds were netted in Taiwan under permit number 090133350, and imported into the United States under USDA import permit number 49226.