1
|
Mills KK, Everson KM, Hildebrandt KPB, Brandler OV, Steppan SJ, Olson LE. Ultraconserved elements improve resolution of marmot phylogeny and offer insights into biogeographic history. Mol Phylogenet Evol 2023; 184:107785. [PMID: 37085130 DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2023.107785] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2022] [Revised: 03/01/2023] [Accepted: 04/13/2023] [Indexed: 04/23/2023]
Abstract
Marmots (Marmota spp.) comprise a lineage of large-bodied ground squirrels that diversified rapidly in the Pleistocene, when the planet quickly transitioned to a drier, colder, and highly seasonal climate-particularly at high latitudes. Fossil evidence indicates the genus spread from North America, across Beringia, and into the European Alps over the course of only a few million years, beginning in the late Pliocene. Marmots are highly adapted to survive long and severely cold winters, and this likely favored their expansion and diversification over this time period. Previous phylogenetic studies have identified two major subgenera of marmots, but the timing of important speciation events and some species relationships have been difficult to resolve. Here we use ultraconserved elements and mitogenomes, with samples from all 15 extant species, to more precisely retrace how and when marmots came to inhabit a vast Holarctic range. Our results indicate marmots arose in North America in the mid Miocene (∼16.3 Mya) and dispersed across the Bering Land Bridge in the late Pliocene (∼3-4 Mya); in addition, our fossil-calibrated timeline is suggestive of the rise and spread of open grasslands as being particularly important to marmot diversification. The woodchuck (M. monax) and the Alaska marmot (M. broweri) are found to be more closely related to the Eurasian species than to the other North American species. Paraphyly is evident in the bobak marmot (M. bobak) and the hoary marmot (M. caligata), and in the case of the latter the data are highly suggestive of a second, cryptic species in the Cascade Mountains of Washington.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kendall K Mills
- Department of Biology and Wildlife, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 982 North Koyukuk Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA; Department of Mammalogy, University of Alaska Museum, 1962 Yukon Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA.
| | - Kathryn M Everson
- Department of Mammalogy, University of Alaska Museum, 1962 Yukon Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA; Department of Integrative Biology, Oregon State University, 2701 SW Campus Way, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
| | - Kyndall P B Hildebrandt
- Department of Mammalogy, University of Alaska Museum, 1962 Yukon Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA
| | - Oleg V Brandler
- Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology of Russian Academy of Sciences, Vavilova 26, Moscow, Russia
| | - Scott J Steppan
- Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
| | - Link E Olson
- Department of Mammalogy, University of Alaska Museum, 1962 Yukon Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Brandler OV, Kapustina SY, Nikol’skii AA, Kolesnikov VV, Badmaev BB, Adiya Y. A Study of Hybridization Between Marmota baibacina and M. sibirica in Their Secondary Contact Zone in Mongolian Altai. Front Ecol Evol 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.555341] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
The role of hybridization as one of the factors of speciation in mammals has been underestimated for a long time, but now there is a lot of data on its impact in mammalian evolution. Hybridization of species often occurs in their secondary contact zones, which is a natural model for testing factors that ensure species integrity. Studies of hybrid zones are increasingly revealing the essential role of ecological and behavioral features both in initiating crossbreeding and in maintaining interspecific barriers. We studied the hybridization of two species of marmots Marmota baibacina and M. sibirica in the zone of sympatry in Mongolian Altai Mountains. We used a bioacoustic approach to determine the localization of individuals of different species and their cohabitation sites. Genetic typing with two diploid nuclear markers and one marker each of paternal and maternal lines was used to identify hybrids. Habitat preferences of marmots were studied to understand the conditions for the formation of heterospecific pairs. We found a high proportion of hybrid individuals in boulder screes where conditions for the formation of heterospecific pairs probably exist. Our data indicate the viability and fertility of F1 hybrids and their descendants. We hypothesize that the environmental preferences and behavioral features of both species of marmots are important factors that both create conditions for hybridization and limit hybrid dispersal.
Collapse
|
3
|
Ronkin V, Tokarsky V, Polchaninova N, Atemasov A, Koshkina A, Savchenko G. Comparative Assessment of Ecological Plasticity of the Steppe Marmot Between Ukrainian and Kazakhstan Populations: Challenges of the Man-Induced Environmental Changes. Front Ecol Evol 2020. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2020.00219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
|
4
|
Cardini A. Modern morphometrics and the study of population differences: Good data behind clever analyses and cool pictures? Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2020; 303:2747-2765. [PMID: 32220106 DOI: 10.1002/ar.24397] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2019] [Revised: 02/03/2020] [Accepted: 02/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
The study of phenotypic variation in time and space is central to evolutionary biology. Modern geometric morphometrics is the leading family of methods for the quantitative analysis of biological forms. This set of techniques relies heavily on technological innovation for data acquisition, often in the form of 2D or 3D digital images, and on powerful multivariate statistical tools for their analysis. However, neither the most sophisticated device for computerized imaging nor the best statistical test can produce accurate, robust and reproducible results, if it is not based on really good samples and an appropriate use of the 'measurements' extracted from the data. Using examples mostly from my own work on mammal craniofacial variation and museum specimens, I will show how easy it is to forget these most basic assumptions, while focusing heavily on analytical and visualization methods, and much less on the data that generate potentially powerful analyses and visually appealing diagrams.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Cardini
- Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche e Geologiche, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.,School of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Kerhoulas NJ, Gunderson AM, Olson LE. Complex history of isolation and gene flow in hoary, Olympic, and endangered Vancouver Island marmots. J Mammal 2015. [DOI: 10.1093/jmammal/gyv089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Climate change resulting in a reduction of alpine habitat is believed to pose a considerable risk to alpine-dependent species, including many marmots. Hoary marmots (Marmota caligata) range throughout much of the mountainous Pacific Northwest (PNW) and Rocky Mountains while the closely related Olympic and Vancouver Island marmots (M. olympus and M. vancouverensis, respectively) are restricted to small isolated regions of the PNW. The endemic Vancouver Island marmot is currently classified as Critically Endangered and the Olympic marmot has recently experienced dramatic population declines. Previous phylogenetic studies of PNW marmot species have had limited power as they focused on resolving interspecific relationships, implicitly assumed an absence of gene flow among currently recognized species, included relatively few individuals, and relied heavily or entirely on mitochondrial DNA. We sequenced 2 mitochondrial and 4 nuclear markers from 167 hoary, 4 Vancouver Island, and 5 Olympic marmots in order to investigate phylogenetic relationships and historic gene flow among these species. We recovered 2 monophyletic (and predominantly allopatric) mitochondrial clades of hoary marmots that are not sister groups. Instead, Vancouver Island marmots formed a monophyletic mitochondrial sister clade to 1 of the hoary marmot clades. Nuclear loci did not recover the 2 mitochondrial clades of hoary marmots and suggest that Vancouver Island marmots may have experienced mitochondrial introgression from coastal mainland hoary marmots. Additionally, our nuclear results suggest possible gene flow between hoary and Olympic marmots despite different chromosomal formulas. Rather than resolving what has previously been considered a straightforward 3-taxon phylogenetic question, our findings suggest a complicated history of rapid divergence of the 3 species followed by intermittent and possibly ongoing gene flow between hoary marmots and both Olympic and Vancouver Island marmots. These results therefore have significant implications for the conservation of the latter 2 species, both of which are conservation concerns.
Collapse
|
6
|
Ermakov OA, Simonov E, Surin VL, Titov SV, Brandler OV, Ivanova NV, Borisenko AV. Implications of hybridization, NUMTs, and overlooked diversity for DNA Barcoding of Eurasian ground squirrels. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0117201. [PMID: 25617768 PMCID: PMC4305304 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0117201] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2014] [Accepted: 12/19/2014] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The utility of DNA Barcoding for species identification and discovery has catalyzed a concerted effort to build the global reference library; however, many animal groups of economical or conservational importance remain poorly represented. This study aims to contribute DNA barcode records for all ground squirrel species (Xerinae, Sciuridae, Rodentia) inhabiting Eurasia and to test efficiency of this approach for species discrimination. Cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene sequences were obtained for 97 individuals representing 16 ground squirrel species of which 12 were correctly identified. Taxonomic allocation of some specimens within four species was complicated by geographically restricted mtDNA introgression. Exclusion of individuals with introgressed mtDNA allowed reaching a 91.6% identification success rate. Significant COI divergence (3.5-4.4%) was observed within the most widespread ground squirrel species (Spermophilus erythrogenys, S. pygmaeus, S. suslicus, Urocitellus undulatus), suggesting the presence of cryptic species. A single putative NUMT (nuclear mitochondrial pseudogene) sequence was recovered during molecular analysis; mitochondrial COI from this sample was amplified following re-extraction of DNA. Our data show high discrimination ability of 100 bp COI fragments for Eurasian ground squirrels (84.3%) with no incorrect assessments, underscoring the potential utility of the existing reference librariy for the development of diagnostic 'mini-barcodes'.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Oleg A. Ermakov
- Department of Zoology and Ecology, Penza State University, Penza, Russia
| | - Evgeniy Simonov
- Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia
- Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russia
| | - Vadim L. Surin
- Hematological Research Center, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - Sergey V. Titov
- Department of Zoology and Ecology, Penza State University, Penza, Russia
| | - Oleg V. Brandler
- Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | | | - Alex V. Borisenko
- Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Steppan SJ, Kenagy GJ, Zawadzki C, Robles R, Lyapunova EA, Hoffmann RS. Molecular data resolve placement of the Olympic marmot and estimate dates of trans-Beringian interchange. J Mammal 2011. [DOI: 10.1644/10-mamm-a-272.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
|