Last Glacial Maximum led to community-wide population expansion in a montane songbird radiation in highland Papua New Guinea.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Quaternary climate fluctuations are an engine of biotic diversification. Global cooling cycles, such as the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), are known to have fragmented the ranges of higher-latitude fauna and flora into smaller refugia, dramatically reducing species ranges. However, relatively less is known about the effects of cooling cycles on tropical biota.

Results

We analyzed thousands of genome-wide DNA markers across an assemblage of three closely related understorey-inhabiting scrubwrens (Sericornis and Aethomyias; Aves) from montane forest along an elevational gradient on Mt. Wilhelm, the highest mountain of Papua New Guinea. Despite species-specific differences in elevational preference, we found limited differentiation within each scrubwren species, but det

SUBMITTER: Garg KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7353695 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature