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Article: Genetic, phenotypic and ecological differentiation suggests incipient speciation in two Charadrius plovers along the Chinese coast

TitleGenetic, phenotypic and ecological differentiation suggests incipient speciation in two Charadrius plovers along the Chinese coast
Authors
KeywordsParapatry
Character displacement
Gene flow
Hybridization
Stable isotope analysis
Issue Date2019
PublisherBioMed Central Ltd. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcevolbiol/
Citation
BMC Evolutionary Biology, 2019, v. 19, p. article no. 135 How to Cite?
AbstractBackground: Speciation with gene flow is an alternative to the nascence of new taxa in strict allopatric separation. Indeed, many taxa have parapatric distributions at present. It is often unclear if these are secondary contacts, e.g. caused by past glaciation cycles or the manifestation of speciation with gene flow, which hampers our understanding of how different forces drive diversification. Here we studied genetic, phenotypic and ecological aspects of divergence in a pair of incipient shorebird species, the Kentish (Charadrius alexandrinus) and the White-faced Plovers (C. dealbatus), shorebirds with parapatric breeding ranges along the Chinese coast. We assessed divergence based on molecular markers with different modes of inheritance and quantified phenotypic and ecological divergence in aspects of morphometric, dietary and climatic niches. Results: Our integrative analyses revealed small to moderate levels of genetic and phenotypic distinctiveness with symmetric gene flow across the contact area at the Chinese coast. The two species diverged approximately half a million years ago in dynamic isolation with secondary contact occurring due to cycling sea level changes between the Eastern and Southern China Sea in the mid-late Pleistocene. We found evidence of character displacement and ecological niche differentiation between the two species, invoking the role of selection in facilitating divergence despite gene flow. Conclusion: These findings imply that ecology can indeed counter gene flow through divergent selection and thus contributes to incipient speciation in these plovers. Furthermore, our study highlights the importance of using integrative datasets to reveal the evolutionary history and assist the inference of mechanisms of speciation.
Persistent Identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/274294
ISSN
2022 Impact Factor: 3.4
2020 SCImago Journal Rankings: 1.533
PubMed Central ID
ISI Accession Number ID

 

DC FieldValueLanguage
dc.contributor.authorWang, X-
dc.contributor.authorQue, P-
dc.contributor.authorHeckel, G-
dc.contributor.authorHu, J-
dc.contributor.authorZhang, X-
dc.contributor.authorChiang, CY-
dc.contributor.authorZhang, N-
dc.contributor.authorHuang, Q-
dc.contributor.authorLiu, S-
dc.contributor.authorMartinez, J-
dc.contributor.authorPagani-Nunez, E-
dc.contributor.authorDingle, C-
dc.contributor.authorLEUNG, YY-
dc.contributor.authorSzekely, T-
dc.contributor.authorZhang, Z-
dc.contributor.authorLiu, Y-
dc.date.accessioned2019-08-18T14:58:54Z-
dc.date.available2019-08-18T14:58:54Z-
dc.date.issued2019-
dc.identifier.citationBMC Evolutionary Biology, 2019, v. 19, p. article no. 135-
dc.identifier.issn1471-2148-
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/274294-
dc.description.abstractBackground: Speciation with gene flow is an alternative to the nascence of new taxa in strict allopatric separation. Indeed, many taxa have parapatric distributions at present. It is often unclear if these are secondary contacts, e.g. caused by past glaciation cycles or the manifestation of speciation with gene flow, which hampers our understanding of how different forces drive diversification. Here we studied genetic, phenotypic and ecological aspects of divergence in a pair of incipient shorebird species, the Kentish (Charadrius alexandrinus) and the White-faced Plovers (C. dealbatus), shorebirds with parapatric breeding ranges along the Chinese coast. We assessed divergence based on molecular markers with different modes of inheritance and quantified phenotypic and ecological divergence in aspects of morphometric, dietary and climatic niches. Results: Our integrative analyses revealed small to moderate levels of genetic and phenotypic distinctiveness with symmetric gene flow across the contact area at the Chinese coast. The two species diverged approximately half a million years ago in dynamic isolation with secondary contact occurring due to cycling sea level changes between the Eastern and Southern China Sea in the mid-late Pleistocene. We found evidence of character displacement and ecological niche differentiation between the two species, invoking the role of selection in facilitating divergence despite gene flow. Conclusion: These findings imply that ecology can indeed counter gene flow through divergent selection and thus contributes to incipient speciation in these plovers. Furthermore, our study highlights the importance of using integrative datasets to reveal the evolutionary history and assist the inference of mechanisms of speciation.-
dc.languageeng-
dc.publisherBioMed Central Ltd. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcevolbiol/-
dc.relation.ispartofBMC Evolutionary Biology-
dc.rightsBMC Evolutionary Biology. Copyright © BioMed Central Ltd.-
dc.rightsThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.-
dc.subjectParapatry-
dc.subjectCharacter displacement-
dc.subjectGene flow-
dc.subjectHybridization-
dc.subjectStable isotope analysis-
dc.titleGenetic, phenotypic and ecological differentiation suggests incipient speciation in two Charadrius plovers along the Chinese coast-
dc.typeArticle-
dc.identifier.emailDingle, C: cdingle@hku.hk-
dc.identifier.authorityDingle, C=rp01985-
dc.description.naturepublished_or_final_version-
dc.identifier.doi10.1186/s12862-019-1449-5-
dc.identifier.pmid31248363-
dc.identifier.pmcidPMC6598359-
dc.identifier.scopuseid_2-s2.0-85068258862-
dc.identifier.hkuros302343-
dc.identifier.volume19-
dc.identifier.spagearticle no. 135-
dc.identifier.epagearticle no. 135-
dc.identifier.isiWOS:000473136000001-
dc.publisher.placeUnited Kingdom-
dc.identifier.issnl1471-2148-

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