Abstract
BackgroundPáramo is a tropical alpine ecosystem present in the northern Andes. Its patchy distribution imposes limits and barriers to specialist inhabitants. We aim to assess the effects of this habitat distribution on divergence across two independently flightless ground beetle lineages, in the genera Dyscolus and Dercylus.MethodsOne nuclear and one mitochondrial gene from 110 individuals from 10 sites across the two lineages were sequenced and analyzed using a combination of phylogenetics, population genetic analyses, and niche modeling methods.ResultsThe two lineages show different degrees of population subdivision. Low levels of gene flow were found in Dyscolus alpinus, where one dominant haplotype is found in four out of the six populations analyzed for both molecular markers. However, complete population isolation was revealed in species of the genus Dercylus, where high levels of differentiation exist at species and population level for both genes. Maximum entropy models of species in the Dercylus lineage show overlapping distributions. Still, species distributions appear to be restricted to small areas across the Andes.ConclusionEven though both beetle lineages are flightless, the dispersal ability of each beetle lineage appears to influence the genetic diversity across fragmented páramo populations, where Dyscolus alpinus appears to be a better disperser than species in the genus Dercylus.
Highlights
The distribution of a species is determined by environmental conditions, ecological interactions of species, and dispersal dynamics
The aim of this study is to analyze the effects of montane isolation in these two flightless beetle lineages from páramo, and to ask how their phylogenetic structure and population connectivity have been affected by potential geographical barriers, their dispersal abilities, and their ages of divergence
Genetic diversity and population structure in Dyscolus alpinus The portion of the c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene analyzed for Dyscolus alpinus was 767 bp long, with 41 parsimony informative sites making up six haplotypes (Fig. 2A; GenBank accessions MK440253–MK440258)
Summary
The distribution of a species is determined by environmental conditions, ecological interactions of species, and dispersal dynamics. The dispersal ability of species plays an important role in determining species ranges and biogeographical patterns (Lester et al, 2007). The role of dispersal for shaping phylogeographical structure of flightless beetles from the Andes. We aim to assess the effects of this habitat distribution on divergence across two independently flightless ground beetle lineages, in the genera Dyscolus and Dercylus. Maximum entropy models of species in the Dercylus lineage show overlapping distributions. Conclusion: Even though both beetle lineages are flightless, the dispersal ability of each beetle lineage appears to influence the genetic diversity across fragmented páramo populations, where Dyscolus alpinus appears to be a better disperser than species in the genus Dercylus
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