The uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and glacial oscillations triggered the diversification of Tetraogallus (Galliformes, Phasianidae).

Li Ding,Jicheng Liao,Naifa Liu

doi:10.1002/ece3.6008

Abstract

The Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) plays an important role in avian diversification. To reveal the relationship between the QTP uplift and avian diversification since the Late Cenozoic, here, we analyzed the phylogenetic relationship and biogeographical pattern of the genus Tetraogallus (Galliformes, Phasianidae) and the probable factors of speciation in the period of the QTP uplift inferred from concatenated data of four nuclear and five mitochondrial genes using the method of the Bayesian inference. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that T. himalayensis had a close relationship with T. altaicus and conflicted with the previous taxonomy of dark‐bellied and white‐bellied groups. The molecular clock showed that the speciation of Tetraogallus was profoundly affected by the uplift of the QTP and glacial oscillations. Biogeographic analysis suggested that the extant snowcocks originated from the QTP, and the QTP uplift and glacial oscillations triggered the diversification of Tetraogallus ancestor. Specifically, the uplift of the mountain provided a prerequisite for the colonization of snowcocks Tetraogallus as a result of the collision between the Indian and the Arab plates and the Eurasian plate, in which ecological isolation (the glacial and interglacial periods alternate) and geographical barrier had accelerated the Tetraogallus diversification process. Interestingly, we discovered hybrids between T. tibetanus and T. himalayensis for the first time and suggested that T. tibetanus and T. himalayensis hybridized after a second contact during the glacial period. Here, we proposed that the hybrid offspring was the ancestor of the T. altaicus. In conclusion, the uplift of QTP and glacial oscillations triggered the snowcocks colonization, and then, isolation and introgression hybridization promoted diversification.

Highlights

The uplift of Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) profoundly impacts speciation and diversification in the plateau birds (Lei, Qu, & Song, 2014)
T. altaicus was closely related to T. himalayensis by comparison with T. tibetanus (PP = 0.51) and split from T. himalayensis that first occurred in the Early-Middle Pleistocene
A multi-locus phylogeny indicated that T. tibetanus and T. himalayensis first differentiated from the Tetraogallus ancestor, and T. altaicus and T. caspius split from T. himalayensis (Figure 2), and our results supported the conclusions proposed by Liu (1998)

Summary

| INTRODUCTION

The uplift of Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) profoundly impacts speciation and diversification in the plateau birds (Lei, Qu, & Song, 2014). The genus Tetraogallus is composed of five species, including T. tibetanus, T. himalayensis, T. altaicus, T. caspius, and T. caucasicus, and distributed in the major mountains system of the Center Asia (Figure 1) (Liu, 1998; Zheng, 2002). T. himalayensis inhabit the Tien Shan, Pamir Plateau, and parts of the QTP, and the distribution area overlaps with T. tibetanus on the QTP (Liu, 1998; Zheng et al, 1978). In the aspect of origin area of the Tetraogallus ancestor, Koslova (1952) pointed out that the origin of the snowcock-like ancestors is related to the uplift of the QTP, and they may be originated from the jungles of the Eastern Kunlun Mountains and the Hengduan Mountains (Western Sichuan Province, China).

| MATERIALS AND METHODS

Findings

| DISCUSSION

| CONCLUSIONS