Sangam: A Confluence of Knowledge Streams

Evolutionary history of a vanishing radiation: isolation-dependent persistence and diversification in Pacific Island partulid tree snails

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dc.creator Lee, Taehwan
dc.creator Li, Jingchun
dc.creator Churchill, Celia K
dc.creator Foighil, Diarmaid Ó
dc.date 2014-12-08T17:47:30Z
dc.date 2014-12-08T17:47:30Z
dc.date 2014-09-24
dc.date 2014-12-08T17:47:30Z
dc.date.accessioned 2022-05-19T13:30:14Z
dc.date.available 2022-05-19T13:30:14Z
dc.identifier BMC Evolutionary Biology. 2014 Sep 24;14(1):202
dc.identifier http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/109542
dc.identifier 10.1186/s12862-014-0202-3
dc.identifier.uri http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/CUHPOERS/117335
dc.description Abstract Background Partulid tree snails are endemic to Pacific high islands and have experienced extraordinary rates of extinction in recent decades. Although they collectively range across a 10,000 km swath of Oceania, half of the family’s total species diversity is endemic to a single Eastern Pacific hot spot archipelago (the Society Islands) and all three partulid genera display highly distinctive distributions. Our goal was to investigate broad scale (range wide) and fine scale (within‐Society Islands) molecular phylogenetic relationships of the two widespread genera, Partula and Samoana. What can such data tell us regarding the genesis of such divergent generic distribution patterns, and nominal species diversity levels across Oceania? Results Museum, captive (zoo) and contemporary field specimens enabled us to genotype 54 of the ~120 recognized species, including many extinct or extirpated taxa, from 14 archipelagoes. The genera Partula and Samoana are products of very distinct diversification processes. Originating at the western edge of the familial range, the derived genus Samoana is a relatively recent arrival in the far eastern archipelagoes (Society, Austral, Marquesas) where it exhibits a stepping‐stone phylogenetic pattern and has proven adept at both intra‐and inter‐ archipelago colonization. The pronounced east–west geographic disjunction exhibited by the genus Partula stems from a much older long-distance dispersal event and its high taxonomic diversity in the Society Islands is a product of a long history of within‐archipelago diversification. Conclusions The central importance of isolation for partulid lineage persistence and diversification is evident in time-calibrated phylogenetic trees that show that remote archipelagoes least impacted by continental biotas bear the oldest clades and/or the most speciose radiations. In contemporary Oceania, that isolation is being progressively undermined and these tree snails are now directly exposed to introduced continental predators throughout the family’s range. Persistence of partulids in the wild will require proactive exclusion of alien predators in at least some designated refuge islands.
dc.description http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/109542/1/12862_2014_Article_202.pdf
dc.format application/pdf
dc.language en
dc.rights Lee et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
dc.title Evolutionary history of a vanishing radiation: isolation-dependent persistence and diversification in Pacific Island partulid tree snails
dc.type Article


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