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Rodents of the Afar Triangle (Ethiopia): geographical isolation causes high level of endemism

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Abstract

The Afar Triangle in easternmost Africa is one of biogeographically important regions, whose recent biota is virtually unknown. Here we evaluated the level of evolutionary uniqueness of biodiversity of this region in a wide regional and continental biogeographical context, using rodents as a model group. By combining our recent collections with historical records, and based on genetic data and phylogenetic approaches, we specifically tested whether and to what extent the geographical isolation of the Afar Depression is reflected in allopatric diversification of arid-adapted mammals. We documented the presence of 16 rodent species (four are reported for the first time in Ethiopia and one rediscovered there after more than 100 years) and eight additional species are likely present based on literature data. Comparative phylogeographic analysis suggests that the Afar Triangle can be considered as a part of a larger Somalian biogeographical region, but its fauna is genetically distinct, including the presence of narrow Afar endemics. To a lesser extent, there are taxa with evolutionary affinities to the eastern Sahara–Sahelian region and to the southern Arabian Peninsula. Compared to the Ethiopian Highlands, the rodent fauna of Afar is relatively poor. However, similarly to highlands, the evolutionary distinctiveness of mammals in the Afar Triangle is very high and it can be considered a unique centre of endemism. Our first comprehensive summary of Afar rodents significantly fills the gap in the knowledge of the mammalian fauna of arid regions in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa in general and highlights the significance of the region for nature conservation.

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Fig. 1
Fig. 2

taken from Frynta et al. (2020). The westernmost red circle outside Afar is Mekane Selam (see the text). (B) Known distribution (based on genotyped specimens) of three species of Arvicanthis occurring in Afar: A. niloticus s.str. (blue rhombuses; three haplogroups with allopatric distribution are not distinguished here; see Bryja et al. 2019b), A. mearnsi (red circles), A. somalicus (green triangles). Published data (Bryja et al. 2019b) are complemented by our recent records detailed in Table S1. Note that the distribution of A. raffertyi is not shown; this species is known from the escarpment in the Alamata region and from the Babile Elephant Sanctuary, both localities on the edge of the Afar Triangle (for the taxonomy of the genus and more details see Bryja et al. 2019b). The background shade of grey indicates the elevation (similarly in Figs. 3 and 5)

Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

source of data, see Tables S2 and S3 in Supporting Information S1

Fig. 6

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Data availability

All details about captured specimens (e.g. GPS of localities, museum voucher numbers, etc.) and additional localities shown on the maps of Ammodillus and Pectinator are provided in Supporting Information S1 (XLS file with three sheets). New DNA sequences were uploaded to GenBank and their accession numbers are in Supporting Information S1.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the bilateral project of the Czech Science Foundation and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Nos. 20-07091J and 19-54-26003, respectively), by the Czech-French Contact Mobility—Barrande Program (Project PHC Barrande 46665SB and MSMT 8J21FR008), the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (PTDC/BIA-ECO/28158/2017) and National Geographic society (NGS-53336R-19) projects, and part of it was performed within the framework of the Project ANR-14-CE31-0023 ‘Big Dry’, with financing from the LabEx ANR-10-LABX-0003-BCDiv (MNHN, Paris). For help in the field and with logistics, we acknowledge R. Šumbera, M. Dianat, P. Kaňuch, P. Benda, J. Bryja Jr., A.R. Gromov, D. Yu. Alexandrov, V. Mazoch, T. Aghová, M. Uhrová, D. Mizerovská, D. Pleurdeau, Worku Bekele, E. Stoetzel, Birhane Gebre, Gebru Tadesse and all local collaborators; T. Aghová, D. Mizerovská and V. Nicolas participated in genotyping of some samples. We thank J. Votýpka, D. Frynta and J. Sádlová for providing DNA from rodent samples collected during their parasitological research and L. Granjon for helpful comments. Access to the National Grid Infrastructure MetaCentrum provided under the programme CESNET LM2015042 is greatly appreciated and so is the access to CIPRES Science Gateway (https://www.phylo.org/). These facilities were used to run most of the phylogenetic analyses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, 603 65, Brno, Czech Republic

    Josef Bryja, Yonas Meheretu, Getachew Mulualem & Anna Bryjová

  2. Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, 611 37, Brno, Czech Republic

    Josef Bryja & Getachew Mulualem

  3. Department of Biology and Institute of Mountain Research and Development, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia

    Yonas Meheretu & Kiros Welegerima

  4. CIBIO-InBIO Associate Laboratory, Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, University of Porto, Vairão, Portugal

    Zbyszek Boratyński

  5. Department of Biology, Samara University, P.O. Box 132, Samara, Afar, Ethiopia

    Ali Zeynu

  6. Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, CP51, 75005, Paris, France

    Christiane Denys

  7. Department of Biology, Dire Dawa University, P.O. Box 1362, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia

    Mohammed Kasso

  8. A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninskii pr. 33, Moscow, Russia, 119071

    Danila S. Kostin, Aleksey A. Martynov & Leonid A. Lavrenchenko

  9. Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Research Facility Studenec, Studenec 122, 675 02, Koněšín, Czech Republic

    Josef Bryja

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Contributions

JB, YM, ZB, CD, LAL conceived the study and provided funding; JB, YM, ZB, AZ, CD, GM, KW, MK, DSK, AAM, LAL collected the material; GM, AB, DSK, AAM performed genetic analyses; JB analysed data and wrote the first draft of the manuscript that was complemented by all authors. All authors also approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Josef Bryja.

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The data utilised in the paper have been lawfully acquired in accordance with The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from Their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity. We are indebted to the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority (EWCA), Government of Ethiopia and the Oromia Forest and Wildlife Enterprise (OFWE) in Ethiopia, and universities in Mekelle, Samara, Haramaya and Dire Dawa for giving us permits to perform the research.

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10531_2022_2354_MOESM1_ESM.xlsx

Supporting Information S1 (XLS file with Tables S1, S2, S3 on separate sheets): Details on collecting localities and genetic data for all captured specimens in Afar (Table S1), and source data for mapping the distribution of Ammodillus (Table S2) and Pectinator (Table S3). Supplementary file1 (XLSX 1482 KB)

Supporting Information S2 (DOC file): Taxonomic comments on Afar gerbils. Supplementary file2 (DOCX 2539 KB)

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Bryja, J., Meheretu, Y., Boratyński, Z. et al. Rodents of the Afar Triangle (Ethiopia): geographical isolation causes high level of endemism. Biodivers Conserv 31, 629–650 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-022-02354-4

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