A Molecular Perspective on the Historical Biogeography of the Northern High Latitudes

Phylogeographic analyses of arctic organisms provide spatial and temporal frameworks for interpreting the role of climate change on biotic diversity in high-latitude ecosystems. Phylogenetic analyses based on 673 base pairs of the mitochondrial control region from 95 arctic hares ( Lepus arcticus, L...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Mammalogy
Main Authors: Waltari, Eric, Demboski, John R., Klein, David R., Cook, Joseph A.
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: Oxford University Press 2004
Subjects:
Feature Articles
Arctic
Greenland
Arctic hare
Climate change
Lepus arcticus
Seward Peninsula
Alaska
Beringia
Online Access:http://jmammal.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/85/4/591
https://doi.org/10.1644/BER-101
Description
Summary:Phylogeographic analyses of arctic organisms provide spatial and temporal frameworks for interpreting the role of climate change on biotic diversity in high-latitude ecosystems. Phylogenetic analyses based on 673 base pairs of the mitochondrial control region from 95 arctic hares ( Lepus arcticus, L. othus, L. timidus ) and 2 other Lepus species identified 6 strongly or moderately supported clades. The 3 arctic hare species are closely related, but phylogenetic discontinuities were found at the eastern and western boundaries of Beringia, the latter not previously identified as a species boundary. The locations of these discontinuities are congruent with previously described genetic breaks in Arctic plants, birds, and small mammals. Similarly, the finding of a Beringian clade corroborates previous studies identifying Beringia as a refugium. A coalescent view of a population on Seward Peninsula, Alaska (eastern Beringia), did not, however, provide a genetic signature of population expansion. In contrast, a Greenland population did show a signal of expansion.

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