Biogeography, ancestral niches, and future geographic ranges in Monkey frogs

Geological events and the formation of bioclimatic regions contribute to shape the current herpetofauna in South America. Monkey frogs of the genus Phyllomedusa have been widely studied in past decades mainly because of the bioactive peptides present in their skin. Yet few studies have assessed the phylogenetic relations within this genus and little is known about the causes of species diversity. Likewise changes in species distribution under climate change conditions has not been assessed. This study analyzed phylogenetic relations within the clade formed by the P. tarsius and P. burmeisteri groups including Phyllomedusa bicolor and Phyllomedusa vaillanti. The data set comprised sequences from GenBank plus molecular data obtained in this study for P. bicolor, P.vaillanti, and P. venusta. This latter species lacked any previously available molecular data in GenBank, and its phylogenetic position remained unknown until this study. Niche modelling was performed for each species under current conditions and projected onto future climatic conditions to compare predicated changes in area between current and future model distributions. Bayesian molecular phylogenetic analyses of divergence times showed that the divergence of P. venusta occurred during and after the final uplift of the Eastern Cordillera, which might have promoted a speciation event by isolating an ancestral population of P. venusta. The formation of a dry forest ecosystem due to a rain shadow effect could have also trigger the speciation process that gave rise to P. venusta, which occurs in the dry forest of the Magdalena valley located between the Central and the Eastern cordilleras. Niche modeling suggested that species from Caribbean coast dry forest might experience the highest area lost, with approximate 80% reduction between current and future distribution. Niche model of species with subtropical distribution showed the least area reduction.

• Autores: González Valenzuela, Laura Estefanía
• Tipo de recurso: Trabajo de grado de pregrado
• Fecha de publicación: 2017
• Institución: Universidad de los Andes
• Repositorio: Séneca: repositorio Uniandes
• Idioma: eng
• OAI Identifier: oai:repositorio.uniandes.edu.co:1992/61533
• Acceso en línea: http://hdl.handle.net/1992/61533
• Palabra clave: Phyllomedusinae
• Rights: openAccess
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/