Dataset Information

The demise of a wonder: Evolutionary history and conservation assessments of the Wonder Gecko Teratoscincus keyserlingii (Gekkota, Sphaerodactylidae) in Arabia.

ABSTRACT: Effective biodiversity conservation planning starts with genetic characterization within and among focal populations, in order to understand the likely impact of threats for ensuring the long-term viability of a species. The Wonder Gecko, Teratoscincus keyserlingii, is one of nine members of the genus. This species is distributed in Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, with a small isolated population in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where it is classified nationally as Critically Endangered. Within its Arabian range, anthropogenic activity is directly linked to the species' decline, with highly localised and severely fragmented populations. Here we describe the evolutionary history of Teratoscincus, by reconstructing its phylogenetic relationships and estimating its divergence times and ancestral biogeography. For conservation implications of T. keyserlingii we evaluate the genetic structure of the Arabian population using genomic data. This study supports the monophyly of most species and reveals considerable intraspecific variability in T. microlepis and T. keyserlingii, which necessitate broad systematic revisions. The UAE population of T. keyserlingii likely arrived from southern Iran during the Pleistocene and no internal structure was recovered within, implying a single population status. Regional conservation of T. keyserlingii requires improved land management and natural habitat restoration in the species' present distribution, and expansion of current protected areas, or establishment of new areas with suitable habitat for the species, mostly in northern Abu Dhabi Emirate.

SUBMITTER: Tamar K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7790289 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:BACKGROUND: The pronounced morphological conservatism within Tarentola geckos contrasted with a high genetic variation in North Africa, has led to the hypothesis that this group could represent a cryptic species complex, a challenging system to study especially when trying to define distinct evolutionary entities and address biogeographic hypotheses. In the present work we have re-examined the phylogenetic and phylogeographic relationships between and within all Mediterranean species of Tarentola, placing the genealogies obtained into a temporal framework. In order to do this, we have investigated the sequence variation of two mitochondrial (12S rRNA and 16S rRNA), and four nuclear markers (ACM4, PDC, MC1R, and RAG2) for 384 individuals of all known Mediterranean Tarentola species, so that their evolutionary history could be assessed. RESULTS: Of all three generated genealogies (combined mtDNA, combined nDNA, and mtDNA+nDNA) we prefer the phylogenetic relationships obtained when all genetic markers are combined. A total of 133 individuals, and 2,901 bp of sequence length, were used in this analysis. The phylogeny obtained for Tarentola presents deep branches, with T. annularis, T. ephippiata and T. chazaliae occupying a basal position and splitting from the remaining species around 15.38 Mya. Tarentola boehmei is sister to all other Mediterranean species, from which it split around 11.38 Mya. There are also two other major groups: 1) the T. mauritanica complex present in North Africa and Europe; and 2) the clade formed by the T. fascicularis/deserti complex, T. neglecta and T. mindiae, occurring only in North Africa. The cladogenesis between these two groups occurred around 8.69 Mya, coincident with the late Miocene. Contrary to what was initially proposed, T. neglecta and T. mindiae are sister taxa to both T. fascicularis and T. deserti. CONCLUSIONS: At least in the Iberian Peninsula and Northwest Africa, the lineages obtained have some geographic coherency, whilst the evolutionary history of the forms from Northeast Africa remains unclear, with a paraphyletic T. fascicularis with respect to T. deserti. The separation between the T. mauritanica complex and the clade formed by the T. fascicularis/deserti complex, T. neglecta and T. mindiae is coincident with the uplift of the Atlas Mountain chain, and the establishment of two distinct bioclimatic regions on each side of the barrier.

Project description:Genome sequencing is a powerful tool to understand species evolutionary history, uncover genes under selection, which could be informative of local adaptation, and infer measures of genetic diversity, inbreeding and mutational load that could be used to inform conservation efforts. Gorillas, critically endangered primates, have received considerable attention and with the recently sequenced Bwindi mountain gorilla population, genomic data is now available from all gorilla subspecies and both mountain gorilla populations. Here, we reanalysed this rich dataset with a focus on evolutionary history, local adaptation and genomic parameters relevant for conservation. We estimate a recent split between western and eastern gorillas of 150,000-180,000 years ago, with gene flow around 20,000 years ago, primarily between the Cross River and Grauer's gorilla subspecies. This gene flow event likely obscures evolutionary relationships within eastern gorillas: after excluding putatively introgressed genomic regions, we uncover a sister relationship between Virunga mountain gorillas and Grauer's gorillas to the exclusion of Bwindi mountain gorillas. This makes mountain gorillas paraphyletic. Eastern gorillas are less genetically diverse and more inbred than western gorillas, yet we detected lower genetic load in the eastern species. Analyses of indels fit remarkably well with differences in genetic diversity across gorilla taxa as recovered with nucleotide diversity measures. We also identified genes under selection and unique gene variants specific for each gorilla subspecies, encoding, among others, traits involved in immunity, diet, muscular development, hair morphology and behavior. The presence of this functional variation suggests that the subspecies may be locally adapted. In conclusion, using extensive genomic resources we provide a comprehensive overview of gorilla genomic diversity, including a so-far understudied Bwindi mountain gorilla population, identify putative genes involved in local adaptation, and detect population-specific gene flow across gorilla species.

Dataset Information

The demise of a wonder: Evolutionary history and conservation assessments of the Wonder Gecko Teratoscincus keyserlingii (Gekkota, Sphaerodactylidae) in Arabia.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets