Biology subjects

Montoya, P.

Publications and source records attributed to Montoya, P..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2020

Geographic drivers of diversification in loliginid squids with an emphasis on the western Atlantic species

AimIdentifying the mechanisms driving divergence in marine organisms is challenging as opportunities for allopatric isolation are less conspicuous than in terrestrial ecosystems. Here, we aim to estimate a dated phylogeny of the squid family Loliginidae, and perform ecological niche analyses to explore biogeographic and evolutionary patterns giving rise to extant lineages in this group, with particular focus on cryptic species with population structure along the western Atlantic coast. LocationWorld-wide. TaxonClass Cephalopoda, Family Loliginidae MethodsWe used three loci to infer gene trees and perform species delimitation analysis to detect putative cryptic speciation events. We then estimated a dated species tree under the Bayesian multispecies coalescent and used it to reconstruct ancestral distributions based on the currently known ranges of the species. Also, we tested the hypothesis of niche divergence in three recently diverged species subpopulations of the northwestern and southwestern Atlantic Ocean by ecological niche modeling and niche overlap measurement from occurrence data. ResultsThe phylogenetic analyses confirmed the monophyly for the current twenty-six species of the Loliginidae family. Our ancestral area reconstruction and divergence estimation revealed the origin and geographical dispersal of loliginid lineages. Additionally, the phylogenetic analysis and the species delimitation analysis supported geographic structure within D. pleii, D. pealeii and L. brevis. The ecological niche models revealed unsuitable habitat in the immediately adjacent area of the Amazonian Orinoco Plume, yet suitable habitat characteristics beyond this area. Main conclusionsOur study allowed us to confirm the monophyly of all currently recognized species within the Loliginidae family and we corroborate the biogeographical origin being the Indo-Pacific region in the Cretaceous. We found a possible new cryptic lineage and show evidence of the Amazon-Orinoco Plume as an ecological barrier, which influenced the diversification of this particular group of marine organisms.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2020

The contribution of global mountains to the latitudinal diversity gradient

The latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) is widely attributed to be the result of factors such as time, area, and energy. Although these factors explain most of the variation in lowlands, they fail in mountainous systems, which are biodiversity hotspots that may contribute meaningfully to the strength of the pattern following different evolutionary pathways. However, because lowlands cover the largest portion of the total land, they may have overshadowed the contribution of mountains to the LDG, but no study has addressed this issue in previous macroecological analyses. Here, we propose that the LDG shows a stronger trend in mountain ranges due to their high species turnover, in spite of covering less than one third of the Earth’s land. Using the geographical information for ∼22000 species of terrestrial vertebrates, we show that worldwide mountains harbor the 40% of the global diversity, and when taking into account the area effect, we quantified that mountains harbor close to double the species inhabiting lowlands per unit area. Moreover, when we evaluated the LDG after accounting for area size, we found that species richness increased faster towards the Equator and was better predicted by latitude in mountains than in lowlands. Our findings challenge previously well-supported hypotheses that predict that those regions with greater area, time and energy accumulate more species richness, since mountains are geologically younger, exhibit less energy, and cover smaller areas than lowlands. Hence, mountains represent a paradox, which invites to reevaluate hypotheses regarding macroecological and evolutionary processes driving species diversity gradients.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.View Full Text

ecology↗

bioRxiv2020

Allochronic Divergence Driven by Spatial Asynchrony in Precipitation in Neotropical Frogs?

The role of geographic barriers in promoting reproductive isolation across space is well understood. Isolation by the time of breeding, however, may also promote population divergence when populations reproduce asynchronically in space, even in the absence of geographic barriers. Few examples exist of divergence due to breeding allochrony, particularly in vertebrates. We tested whether in Neotropical frogs asynchrony in precipitation patterns promotes intraspecific genetic divergence, speciation, and regional accumulation of diversity. We assessed the relationship between spatial asynchrony in precipitation and genetic divergence controlling for ecological connectivity across 48 Neotropical frog species. In addition, we examined whether regions within which precipitation regimes are more asynchronous across space have higher species richness and have experienced greater speciation rates. Beyond a generalized expected effect of ecological connectivity on intraspecific genetic divergence, we found that asynchrony in precipitation is positively associated with genetic differentiation in 31% of the species tested, resulting in a significantly positive cross-species effect of asynchrony in precipitation on genetic divergence in a meta-analysis. However, the effect of asynchrony in precipitation on population divergence seems not to scale to macroevolutionary patterns because spatial asynchrony in precipitation was not associated with geographical patterns of species richness or speciation rates. Our results indicate that genetic divergence can be promoted by asynchronous breeding lag in the absence of geographic barriers in species where breeding is associated with water availability, but such effects may not be stable enough through time to influence macroevolutionary patterns.

ecology↗