Aquatic Biotas of Sundaland Are Fragmented But Not Refugial

Tropical insular systems have long attracted biologists, stimulating some important controversies in ecology and evolution. Eustatic fluctuations during the Pleistocene have been invoked to explain species dispersal and proliferation in these fragmented systems by controlling the extent of landmasses and their temporary connections. In ancient archipelagos, the Pleistocene represents only a small slice of their history, so long-standing configurations might better explain insular diversity patterns. With a geological history of ca. 30 million years, the Sunda Shelf is old. Upon entering the Pleistocene, islands of the Sunda Shelf repeatedly separated and merged; however, recent reappraisals of its paleoenvironments and evolutionary dynamics have questioned their biogeographic significance. Based on the molecular inventory of 6 common freshwater fish families, we explored population fragmentation and demographic history of the most common species using mitochondrial DNA sequences. Species delimitation methods, applied to 1062 sequences belonging to 37 species from 188 sites, detected 95 Molecular Operational Taxonomic Units (MOTUs). Among the 9 most widespread species, the number of MOTUs ranged from 1 to 11, and correlated with time to the most recent common ancestor. Extended Bayesian Skyline Plots applied to mitogenomes and cytochrome c oxidase I sequences detected no variation in past effective population size within MOTUs, while hierarchical Approximate Bayesian Computation provided no evidence of congruent changes in effective population sizes. Fragmentation of an ancestral range is the most likely explanation for the rampant cryptic diversity observed, but demographic inferences do not support MOTUs as being refugial from an evolutionary perspective.

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Publication Details

Journal
Systematic Biology
Published
2025-02-27
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syaf005
Citations
6
Primary Topic
Fish Biology and Ecology Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
13.64
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article

Aquatic Biotas of Sundaland Are Fragmented But Not Refugial

Thomas von Rintelen, Arif Wibowo, Jean‐François Agnèse, Sélim Ben Chehida et al.
6 citations
Systematic Biology
Fish Biology and Ecology Studies
13.64
article

Aquatic Biotas of Sundaland Are Fragmented But Not Refugial

Thomas von Rintelen, Arif Wibowo, Jean‐François Agnèse, Sélim Ben Chehida, Muhamad Syamsul Arifin Zein, A. Sholihah, Renny Risdawati, Erwan Delrieu‐Trottin, Ilham V. Utama, Zainal A. Muchlisin, Hadi Dahruddin, Lukas Rüber, Marie-Ka Tilak, Tedjo Sukmono, Ujang Nurhaman, Stefano Mona, Roza Elvyra, Yuli Fitriana, Juliette Pouzadoux, Dirk Steinke, Daisy Wowor, Paul D. N. Hebert, Sopian Sauri, Nicolas Hubert, Kustiati Kustiati, Lawrence M. Page
article en
6 citations

Abstract

Tropical insular systems have long attracted biologists, stimulating some important controversies in ecology and evolution. Eustatic fluctuations during the Pleistocene have been invoked to explain species dispersal and proliferation in these fragmented systems by controlling the extent of landmasses and their temporary connections. In ancient archipelagos, the Pleistocene represents only a small slice of their history, so long-standing configurations might better explain insular diversity patterns. With a geological history of ca. 30 million years, the Sunda Shelf is old. Upon entering the Pleistocene, islands of the Sunda Shelf repeatedly separated and merged; however, recent reappraisals of its paleoenvironments and evolutionary dynamics have questioned their biogeographic significance. Based on the molecular inventory of 6 common freshwater fish families, we explored population fragmentation and demographic history of the most common species using mitochondrial DNA sequences. Species delimitation methods, applied to 1062 sequences belonging to 37 species from 188 sites, detected 95 Molecular Operational Taxonomic Units (MOTUs). Among the 9 most widespread species, the number of MOTUs ranged from 1 to 11, and correlated with time to the most recent common ancestor. Extended Bayesian Skyline Plots applied to mitogenomes and cytochrome c oxidase I sequences detected no variation in past effective population size within MOTUs, while hierarchical Approximate Bayesian Computation provided no evidence of congruent changes in effective population sizes. Fragmentation of an ancestral range is the most likely explanation for the rampant cryptic diversity observed, but demographic inferences do not support MOTUs as being refugial from an evolutionary perspective.

Systematic BiologyVol. 74(5)
University of Bern (CH), Tanjungpura University (ID), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Florida Museum of Natural History (US), Museum für Naturkunde (DE), Bandung Institute of Technology (ID), Universitas Jambi (ID), École Pratique des Hautes Études (FR), Universitas Syiah Kuala (ID), Indonesian Institute of Sciences (ID), Université de Montpellier (FR), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (FR), Center for Plant Conservation (US), Jewish Museum (US), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (DE), Natural History Museum of Bern (CH), Centre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive (FR), Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité (FR), Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (FR), Universitas Muhammadiyah Sumatera Barat (ID), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR), National Research and Innovation Agency (ID), University of Guelph (CA), Riau University (ID)
Life below water
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Fish Biology and Ecology Studies
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