Organismal traits interact with environmental variation to mediate how species respond to shared ... more Organismal traits interact with environmental variation to mediate how species respond to shared landscapes. Thus, differences in traits related to dispersal ability or physiological tolerance may result in phylogeographic discordance among co-distributed taxa, even when they are responding to common barriers. We quantified climatic suitability and stability, and phylogeographic divergence within three reed frog species complexes across the Guineo-Congolian forests and Gulf of Guinea archipelago of Central Africa to investigate how they responded to a shared climatic and geological history. Our species-specific estimates of climatic suitability through time are consistent with temporal and spatial heterogeneity in diversification among the species complexes, indicating that differences in ecological breadth may partly explain these idiosyncratic patterns. Likewise, we demonstrated that fluctuating sea levels periodically exposed a land bridge connecting Bioko Island with the mainlan...
Molecular phylogenetics and evolution, Jan 21, 2016
The Mascarene ridged frog, Ptychadena mascareniensis, is a species complex that includes numerous... more The Mascarene ridged frog, Ptychadena mascareniensis, is a species complex that includes numerous lineages occurring mostly in humid savannas and open forests of mainland Africa, Madagascar, the Seychelles, and the Mascarene Islands. Sampling across this broad distribution presents an opportunity to examine the genetic differentiation within this complex and to investigate how the evolution of bioclimatic niches may have shaped current biogeographic patterns. Using model-based phylogenetic methods and molecular-clock dating, we constructed a time-calibrated molecular phylogenetic hypothesis for the group based on mitochondrial 16S rRNA and cytochrome b (cytb) genes and the nuclear RAG1 gene from 173 individuals. Haplotype networks were reconstructed and species boundaries were investigated using three species-delimitation approaches: Bayesian generalized mixed Yule-coalescent model (bGMYC), the Poisson Tree Process model (PTP) and a cluster algorithm (SpeciesIdentifier). Estimates o...
T he world's second largest continuous tropical rain forest is found in the Congo Basin. It c... more T he world's second largest continuous tropical rain forest is found in the Congo Basin. It comprises a vast river drainage area intriguingly similar to that of the Amazon and includes more than 15 of the global WWF terrestrial ecoregions (Olson et al. 2001; de Wasseige et al. 2009). Fascinatingly, this notable area for tropical biodiversity harbours one of the least known herpetofaunas on our planet (Schiøtz 2006; Andreone et al. 2008). Most of the available knowledge derives from expeditions in the beginning of last century and a few prominent collections during the colonial regimes (e.g. Boulenger 1919; Noble 1924; Ahl 1931; Laurent 1943, 1950, 1972). Comparing the accumulated number of described species through time from the DRC with that of Brazil (The majority of the Congo and Amazon basins respectively) provide an illustration of this (fig. 1). A clearly exponential increase in species numbers since the fifties as observed for Brazil (as well as on global scale) has faile...
T he world's second largest continuous tropical rain forest is found in the Congo Basin. It c... more T he world's second largest continuous tropical rain forest is found in the Congo Basin. It comprises a vast river drainage area intriguingly similar to that of the Amazon and includes more than 15 of the global WWF terrestrial ecoregions (Olson et al. 2001; de Wasseige et al. 2009). Fascinatingly, this notable area for tropical biodiversity harbours one of the least known herpetofaunas on our planet (Schiøtz 2006; Andreone et al. 2008). Most of the available knowledge derives from expeditions in the beginning of last century and a few prominent collections during the colonial regimes (e.g. Boulenger 1919; Noble 1924; Ahl 1931; Laurent 1943, 1950, 1972). Comparing the accumulated number of described species through time from the DRC with that of Brazil (The majority of the Congo and Amazon basins respectively) provide an illustration of this (fig. 1). A clearly exponential increase in species numbers since the fifties as observed for Brazil (as well as on global scale) has faile...
An important driver of amphibian declines is chytridiomy-cosis, a disease caused by the pathogen ... more An important driver of amphibian declines is chytridiomy-cosis, a disease caused by the pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd; Berger et al. 1998; Daszak et al. 1999, 2003; Ron and Merino-Viteri 2000; Bosch et al. 2001; Collins and Stor-fer 2003, Ron et al. 2003; La Marca et al. 2005; Wake and Vre-denburg 2008; Walker et al. 2010). Bd is now known to be an emerging pathogen that is rapidly expanding its global range (Fisher et al. 2009) and now has attained a global distribution on all continents that contain amphibians (www.bd-maps.net). Research by Weldon et al. (2004) on the potential origin of Bd suggests that the panzootic originated in South Africa and has perhaps been dispersed by international trade in amphibians, becoming established around the word (Rödder et al. 2009). To date, the rapid and widespread distribution of Bd infection across hundreds of amphibian species is alarming. In Spain, outbreaks of chytridiomycosis and mass mortali-ties has been reported in many...
Organismal traits interact with environmental variation to mediate how species respond to shared ... more Organismal traits interact with environmental variation to mediate how species respond to shared landscapes. Thus, differences in traits related to dispersal ability or physiological tolerance may result in phylogeographic discordance among co-distributed taxa, even when they are responding to common barriers. We quantified climatic suitability and stability, and phylogeographic divergence within three reed frog species complexes across the Guineo-Congolian forests and Gulf of Guinea archipelago of Central Africa to investigate how they responded to a shared climatic and geological history. Our species-specific estimates of climatic suitability through time are consistent with temporal and spatial heterogeneity in diversification among the species complexes, indicating that differences in ecological breadth may partly explain these idiosyncratic patterns. Likewise, we demonstrated that fluctuating sea levels periodically exposed a land bridge connecting Bioko Island with the mainlan...
Molecular phylogenetics and evolution, Jan 21, 2016
The Mascarene ridged frog, Ptychadena mascareniensis, is a species complex that includes numerous... more The Mascarene ridged frog, Ptychadena mascareniensis, is a species complex that includes numerous lineages occurring mostly in humid savannas and open forests of mainland Africa, Madagascar, the Seychelles, and the Mascarene Islands. Sampling across this broad distribution presents an opportunity to examine the genetic differentiation within this complex and to investigate how the evolution of bioclimatic niches may have shaped current biogeographic patterns. Using model-based phylogenetic methods and molecular-clock dating, we constructed a time-calibrated molecular phylogenetic hypothesis for the group based on mitochondrial 16S rRNA and cytochrome b (cytb) genes and the nuclear RAG1 gene from 173 individuals. Haplotype networks were reconstructed and species boundaries were investigated using three species-delimitation approaches: Bayesian generalized mixed Yule-coalescent model (bGMYC), the Poisson Tree Process model (PTP) and a cluster algorithm (SpeciesIdentifier). Estimates o...
T he world's second largest continuous tropical rain forest is found in the Congo Basin. It c... more T he world's second largest continuous tropical rain forest is found in the Congo Basin. It comprises a vast river drainage area intriguingly similar to that of the Amazon and includes more than 15 of the global WWF terrestrial ecoregions (Olson et al. 2001; de Wasseige et al. 2009). Fascinatingly, this notable area for tropical biodiversity harbours one of the least known herpetofaunas on our planet (Schiøtz 2006; Andreone et al. 2008). Most of the available knowledge derives from expeditions in the beginning of last century and a few prominent collections during the colonial regimes (e.g. Boulenger 1919; Noble 1924; Ahl 1931; Laurent 1943, 1950, 1972). Comparing the accumulated number of described species through time from the DRC with that of Brazil (The majority of the Congo and Amazon basins respectively) provide an illustration of this (fig. 1). A clearly exponential increase in species numbers since the fifties as observed for Brazil (as well as on global scale) has faile...
T he world's second largest continuous tropical rain forest is found in the Congo Basin. It c... more T he world's second largest continuous tropical rain forest is found in the Congo Basin. It comprises a vast river drainage area intriguingly similar to that of the Amazon and includes more than 15 of the global WWF terrestrial ecoregions (Olson et al. 2001; de Wasseige et al. 2009). Fascinatingly, this notable area for tropical biodiversity harbours one of the least known herpetofaunas on our planet (Schiøtz 2006; Andreone et al. 2008). Most of the available knowledge derives from expeditions in the beginning of last century and a few prominent collections during the colonial regimes (e.g. Boulenger 1919; Noble 1924; Ahl 1931; Laurent 1943, 1950, 1972). Comparing the accumulated number of described species through time from the DRC with that of Brazil (The majority of the Congo and Amazon basins respectively) provide an illustration of this (fig. 1). A clearly exponential increase in species numbers since the fifties as observed for Brazil (as well as on global scale) has faile...
An important driver of amphibian declines is chytridiomy-cosis, a disease caused by the pathogen ... more An important driver of amphibian declines is chytridiomy-cosis, a disease caused by the pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd; Berger et al. 1998; Daszak et al. 1999, 2003; Ron and Merino-Viteri 2000; Bosch et al. 2001; Collins and Stor-fer 2003, Ron et al. 2003; La Marca et al. 2005; Wake and Vre-denburg 2008; Walker et al. 2010). Bd is now known to be an emerging pathogen that is rapidly expanding its global range (Fisher et al. 2009) and now has attained a global distribution on all continents that contain amphibians (www.bd-maps.net). Research by Weldon et al. (2004) on the potential origin of Bd suggests that the panzootic originated in South Africa and has perhaps been dispersed by international trade in amphibians, becoming established around the word (Rödder et al. 2009). To date, the rapid and widespread distribution of Bd infection across hundreds of amphibian species is alarming. In Spain, outbreaks of chytridiomycosis and mass mortali-ties has been reported in many...
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Papers by Jos Kielgast