A Complex System of Glacial Sub-Refugia Drives Endemic Freshwater Biodiversity on the Tibetan Plateau ...

• Main Authors: Clewing, Catharina, Albrecht, Christian, Wilke, Thomas, Justus Liebig University Giessen
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Universitätsbibliothek Gießen 2016
• Subjects: ddc590; permafrost
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.22029/jlupub-8639; https://jlupub.ub.uni-giessen.de//handle/jlupub/9251

Although only relatively few freshwater invertebrate families are reported from the Tibetan Plateau, the degree of endemism may be high. Many endemic lineages occur within permafrost areas, raising questions about the existence of isolated intra-plateau glacial refugia. Moreover, if such refugia existed, it might be instructive to learn whether they were associated with lakes or with more dynamic ecosystems such as ponds, wetlands, or springs. To study these hypotheses, we used pulmonate snails of the plateau-wide distributed genus Radix as model group and the Lake Donggi Cona drainage system, located in the north-eastern part of the plateau, as model site. First, we performed plateau-wide phylogenetic analyses using mtDNA data to assess the overall relationships of Radix populations inhabiting the Lake Donggi Cona system for revealing refugial lineages. We then conducted regional phylogeographical analyses applying a combination of mtDNA and nuclear AFLP markers to infer the local structure and demographic ...