Congruent evolutionary responses of European steppe biota to late Quaternary climate change

Author(s)

Kirschner, Philipp ; Perez, Manolo F. ; Zaveska, Eliska ; Sanmartin, Isabel ; Marquer, Laurent ; Schlick-Steiner, Birgit C. ; Alvarez, Nadir ; Steiner, Florian M. ; Schoenswetter, Peter ; STEPPE Consortium

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: NATURE COMMUNICATIONS; v. 13, n. 1, p. 11-pg., 2022-04-08.

Abstract

Quaternary climatic oscillations had a large impact on European biogeography. Alternation of cold and warm stages caused recurrent glaciations, massive vegetation shifts, and large-scale range alterations in many species. The Eurasian steppe biome and its grasslands are a noteworthy example; they underwent climate-driven, large-scale contractions during warm stages and expansions during cold stages. Here, we evaluate the impact of these range alterations on the late Quaternary demography of several phylogenetically distant plant and insect species, typical of the Eurasian steppes. We compare three explicit demographic hypotheses by applying an approach combining convolutional neural networks with approximate Bayesian computation. We identified congruent demographic responses of cold stage expansion and warm stage contraction across all species, but also species-specific effects. The demographic history of the Eurasian steppe biota reflects major paleoecological turning points in the late Quaternary and emphasizes the role of climate as a driving force underlying patterns of genetic variance on the biome level. Quaternary climatic oscillations had a large impact on European biogeography. Using genomic data, machine learning, and approximate Bayesian computation, this study outlines a general scenario in which Quaternary climatic oscillations shaped the evolution of European steppe biota in a congruent way, emphasizing the role of climate underlying patterns of genetic variance at the biome level. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 19/27089-8 - Gondwana Biogeography: the study case of Osteoglossiform fishes (Teleostei, Osteoglossomorpha)
• Grantee: Manolo Fernandez Perez
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor