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Fuzzy species borders of glacial survivalists in the Carpathian biodiversity hotspot revealed using a multimarker approach

ABSTRACT: The Carpathians are one of the key biodiversity hotspots in Europe. The mountain chain uplifted during Alpine orogenesis and is characterised by a complex geological history. Its current biodiversity was highly influenced by Pleistocene glaciations. The goal of the current study was to examine the phylogenetic and demographic history of Gammarus balcanicus species complex in the Carpathians using multiple markers as well as to delimit, using an integrative approach, and describe new species hidden so far under the name G. balcanicus. Results showed that divergence of the studied lineages reaches back to the Miocene, which supports the hypothesis of their survival in multiple micro refugia. Moreover, the increase of their diversification rate in the Pleistocene suggests that glaciation was the driving force of their speciation. The climatic changes during and after the Pleistocene also played a major role in the demography of the local Carpathian lineages. Comparison of diversity patterns and phylogenetic relationships of both, the mitochondrial and nuclear markers, provide evidence of putative hybridisation and retention of ancient polymorphism (i.e., incomplete lineage sorting). The morphological examination supported the existence of two morphological types; one we describe as a G. stasiuki sp. nov. and another we redescribe as a G. tatrensis (S. Karaman, 1931).

SUBMITTER: Mamos T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8566499 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:New Caledonia is a global biodiversity hotspot facing extreme environmental degradation. Given the urgent need for conservation prioritisation, we have made a first-pass quantitative assessment of the distribution of Narrow Endemic Species (NES) in the flora to identify species and sites that are potentially important for conservation action. We assessed the distributional status of all angiosperm and gymnosperm species using data from taxonomic descriptions and herbarium samples. We characterised species as being NES if they occurred in 3 or fewer locations. In total, 635 of the 2930 assessed species were classed as NES, of which only 150 have been subjected to the IUCN conservation assessment. As the distributional patterns of un-assessed species from one or two locations correspond well with assessed species which have been classified as Critically Endangered or Endangered respectively, we suggest that our distributional data can be used to prioritise species for IUCN assessment. We also used the distributional data to produce a map of "Hotspots of Plant Narrow Endemism" (HPNE). Combined, we used these data to evaluate the coincidence of NES with mining activities (a major source of threat on New Caledonia) and also areas of conservation protection. This is to identify species and locations in most urgent need of further conservation assessment and subsequent action. Finally, we grouped the NES based on the environments they occurred in and modelled the habitat distribution of these groups with a Maximum Entropy Species Distribution Model (MaxEnt). The NES were separable into three different groups based primarily on geological differences. The distribution of the habitat types for each group coincide partially with the HPNE described above and also indicates some areas which have high habitat suitability but few recorded NES. Some of these areas may represent under-sampled hotspots of narrow endemism and are priorities for further field work.

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Fuzzy species borders of glacial survivalists in the Carpathian biodiversity hotspot revealed using a multimarker approach

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