DUGi

Niche conservatism determines the occurrence of allopatric populations of Hyla meridionalis in different biogeographical scenarios

http://dugi.udg.edu/item/http:@@@@hdl.handle.net@@2072@@281580

Niche conservatism controls the distribution of many amphibians during both speciation and invasion processes.In a few species it is possible to investigate the ecological divergence between isolated populations. Hyla meridionalis isan anuran with a distribution pattern of one group of alien populations in southwestern Europe and two allopatric groupsof populations in northern Africa that have been diverging for an estimated period of between 2 and 12 million years. Inthis study we tested the hypothesis that niche conservatism determines the occurrence of a species on two distinct nichescales and in separate geographical regions. Our results indicate that H. meridionalis in some places occupies aquatic habitatsthat are suboptimal for other anuran species. This fact may have favoured its persistence in this niche and establishmentin regions where no equivalent species occur. The two lineages of H. meridionalis overlap extensively in the climatespace, even though the western lineage has spread into more marginal niches. Overall, our results support the hypothesesthat niche conservatism controls the dispersal and distribution of populations and that a species’ niche can be stable on anevolutionary time scale

This work was supported by a grant from the Mohamed bin Zayed Species ConservationFund (Project 13057819) and a grant from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Programa de Investigación Fundamental No Orientada (CGL2011-23907)

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Herpetologie und Terrarienkund