Museums and cradles of diversity are geographically coincident for narrowly distributed Neotropical snakes

Author(s):Show less -

Azevedo, Josue A. R. ^{[1, 2]} ; Guedes, Thais B. ^{[1, 2, 3]} ; Nogueira, Cristiano de C. ^[4] ; Passos, Paulo ^[5] ; Sawaya, Ricardo J. ^[6] ; Prudente, Ana L. C. ^[7] ; Barbo, Fausto E. ^[8] ; Strussmann, Christine ^[9] ; Franco, Francisco L. ^[8] ; Arzamendia, Vanesa ^{[10, 11]} ; Giraudo, Alejandro R. ^{[10, 11]} ; Argolo, Antonio J. S. ^[12] ; Jansen, Martin ^{[13, 14]} ; Zaher, Hussam ^{[15, 16]} ; Tonini, Joao F. R. ^{[17, 18]} ; Faurby, Soren ^{[1, 2]} ; Antonelli, Alexandre ^{[1, 2, 19]}

Affiliation:Show less -

^[1] Univ Gothenburg, Dept Biol & Environm Sci, Gothenburg - Sweden

^[2] Gothenburg Global Biodivers Ctr, Gothenburg - Sweden

^[3] Univ Estadual Maranhao, Ctr Estudos Super Caxias, Programa Posgrad Biodiversidade Ambiente & Saude, Caxias, MA - Brazil

^[4] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Biociencias, Dept Ecol, Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

^[5] Univ Fed Rio Janeiro, Dept Vertebrados, Museu Nacl, Rio De Janeiro, RJ - Brazil

^[6] Univ Fed ABC, Ctr Ciencias Nat & Humanas, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[7] Coordena Zool, Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, Belem, Para - Brazil

^[8] Inst Butantan, Lab Especial Colecoes Zool, Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

^[9] Univ Fed Mato Grosso, Fac Med Vet, Cuiaba, MT - Brazil

^[10] Univ Nacl Litoral, Inst Nacl Limnol, CONICET, Santa Fe - Argentina

^[11] Univ Nacl Litoral, Fac Humanidades & Ciencias, Santa Fe - Argentina

^[12] Univ Estadual Santa Cruz, Dept Ciencias Biol, Ilheus, BA - Brazil

^[13] Senckenberg Res Inst, Frankfurt - Germany

^[14] Natl Museum, Dept Terr Zool, Frankfurt - Germany

^[15] Univ Sao Paulo, Museu Zool, Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

^[16] Sorbonne Univ, CE2P, CNRS, MNHN, UMR 7207, Paris - France

^[17] Harvard Univ, Museum Comparat Zool, Cambridge, MA 02138 - USA

^[18] Harvard Univ, Dept Organism & Evolutionary Biol, Cambridge, MA 02138 - USA

^[19] Royal Bot Gardens, Richmond, Surrey - England

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: ECOGRAPHY; v. 43, n. 2 NOV 2019.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

Factors driving the spatial configuration of centres of endemism have long been a topic of broad interest and debate. Due to different eco-evolutionary processes, these highly biodiverse areas may harbour different amounts of ancient and recently diverged organisms (paleo- and neo-endemism, respectively). Patterns of endemism still need to be measured at distinct phylogenetic levels for most clades and, consequently, little is known about the distribution, the age and the causes of such patterns. Here we tested for the presence of centres with high phylogenetic endemism (PE) in the highly diverse Neotropical snakes, testing the age of these patterns (paleo- or neo-endemism), and the presence of PE centres with distinct phylogenetic composition. We then tested whether PE is predicted by topography, by climate (seasonality, stability, buffering and relictualness), or biome size. We found that most areas of high PE for Neotropical snakes present a combination of both ancient and recently diverged diversity, which is distributed mostly in the Caribbean region, Central America, the Andes, the Atlantic Forest and on scattered highlands in central Brazil. Turnover of lineages is higher across Central America, resulting in more phylogenetically distinct PE centres compared to South America, which presents a more phylogenetically uniform snake fauna. Finally, we found that elevational range (topographic roughness) is the main predictor of PE, especially for paleo-endemism, whereas low paleo-endemism levels coincide with areas of high climatic seasonality. Our study highlights the importance of mountain systems to both ancient and recent narrowly distributed diversity. Mountains are both museums and cradles of snake diversity in the Neotropics, which has important implications for conservation in this region. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 11/50206-9 - Origin and evolution of snakes and their diversification in the Neotropics: a multidisciplinary approach
• Grantee: Hussam El Dine Zaher
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 13/04170-8 - Historical biogeography of the snakes from open landscapes in South America
• Grantee: Thaís Barreto Guedes da Costa
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 14/23677-9 - New approaches to ecology and conservation: phylogenetic and functional diversity of amphibians and snakes of Brazilian Atlantic Forest
• Grantee: Ricardo Jannini Sawaya
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 15/20215-7 - Biogeography, biodiversity and conservation of cis-Andean squamate reptiles
• Grantee: Cristiano de Campos Nogueira
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Young Investigators Grants