Department of Natural Resources, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran.
Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Arak University, Arak, Iran.
Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2018 Oct;127:712-722. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2018.06.019. Epub 2018 Jun 12.
We used the fat dormouse (Glis glis), a species from a monotypic genus of family Gliridae, as a model to promote the understanding of patterns of cryptic diversification along the ancient Hyrcanian Forests, one of the old-growth relicts of the temperate deciduous forests worldwide. Mitochondrial Cytb data was used to investigate the phylogenetic status of two geographically-different populations of G. glis along the Hyrcanian Forests among all the worldwide known lineages of the species. Regarding phylogenetically informed partitioning of occurrence data, we then used two analytically different ENMs (i.e. environmental-space and geographic-space) to address whether niche divergence conforms G. glis diversification over the study area. Phylogenetic reconstruction showed significant heterogeneity between other fat dormouse lineages and those belonging to the Hyrcanian Forests as well as within the two hypothesized cryptic groups in the study area. Quantifying niche differences using the two ENM frameworks additionally confirmed divergence between the two cryptic lineages by indicating niche conservatism. The integration of phylogeny and ENM in this study confirms the development of distinct cryptic species and suggests that the Hyrcanian Forests, a well-known Pleistocene refugium, might contain multiple cryptic refugia for small forest-dwelling species during paleontological oscillations.
我们选择毛足鼠（Glis glis）作为研究模型，该物种隶属于单种科睡鼠科，分布于古老的伊朗洪泛森林。伊朗洪泛森林是世界范围内温带落叶阔叶林的古老遗迹之一，毛足鼠的这种分布模式有助于我们理解隐蔽物种多样化的模式。我们使用线粒体 Cytb 数据，对两个地理上不同的毛足鼠种群进行了分析，这两个种群分布于伊朗洪泛森林，它们属于全世界已知的该物种的所有谱系。针对发生数据的系统发生信息分区，我们使用了两种分析上不同的 ENM（即环境空间和地理空间）来解决是否趋同适应导致了研究区域内毛足鼠的多样化。系统发育重建显示，其他毛足鼠谱系与属于伊朗洪泛森林的谱系以及研究区域内两个假设的隐蔽群体之间存在显著的异质性。使用这两种 ENM 框架量化生态位差异，通过表明生态位保守性，进一步证实了这两个隐蔽谱系之间的分化。本研究将系统发育与 ENM 相结合，证实了独特的隐蔽物种的形成，并表明作为著名的更新世避难所的伊朗洪泛森林，在古生物学波动过程中，可能为小型森林栖息物种提供了多个隐蔽避难所。
