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Modelling potential Pleistocene habitat corridors between Afromontane forest regions

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Abstract

The unusually high floral and faunal similarity between the different regions of the Afromontane archipelago has been noted by biogeographers since the late 1800s. A possible explanation for this similarity is the spread of montane habitat into the intervening lowlands during the glacial periods of the Pleistocene, allowing biotic exchange between mountain ranges. In this study, we sought to infer the existence and most likely positions of these potential habitat corridors. We focused on sixteen Afromontane endemic tree, shrub, and bird species in the Cameroon Volcanic Line, East African Rift and Great Escarpment. Species were chosen based on distribution above 1200–1500 m in at least two of the major Afromontane regions. Ecological niche models were developed for each species in the present and projected to the mid-Holocene and the last glacial maximum (LGM). Models were thresholded to create binary maps of presence/absence and then summed across taxa to estimate potential LGM and mid-Holocene distributions. We found widespread climatic suitability for our montane taxa throughout the lowlands of Central Africa during the LGM, connecting all regions of the Afromontane archipelago except the Ethiopian Highlands and the Dahomey Gap. During the mid-Holocene, we noted more limited climatic suitability for fewer species in lowland areas. Although we set out to test predictions derived from alternatively hypothesized corridors, we instead found widespread climatic suitability connecting Afromontane regions across the entire Congo Basin for all species.

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Availability of data and material

The data analysed during the current study can be found at the GBIF search DOIs: http://doi.org/10.15468/dl.chilmj, http://doi.org/10.15468/dl.y8gcwz, http://doi.org/10.15468/dl.zepi4n, http://doi.org/10.15468/dl.xw40dj, http://doi.org/10.15468/dl.ju9mu4, http://doi.org/10.15468/dl.oyavyx, http://doi.org/10.15468/dl.v4g9ms

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Moses Sainge for advice on Afromontane tree and shrub distributions; Marlon Cobos for assistance with niche modelling in R; and the University of Kansas Ecological Niche Modelling (KUENM) group for their feedback on this project.

Funding

No funding to declare.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA

    Kaitlin E. Allen, Walter P. Tapondjou, Benedictus Freeman, Rafe M. Brown & A. Townsend Peterson

  2. Committee on Evolutionary Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA

    Jacob C. Cooper

  3. Negaunee Integrative Research Center, Field Museum, Chicago, IL, 60605, USA

    Jacob C. Cooper

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  2. Walter P. Tapondjou
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  3. Benedictus Freeman
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  4. Jacob C. Cooper
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  5. Rafe M. Brown
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  6. A. Townsend Peterson
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Contributions

KEA, RMB and ATP conceived the ideas; KEA, WPTN, BF, and JCC collected and analysed the data; and KEA led the writing, with assistance from RMB, ATP, WPTN, and JCC.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kaitlin E. Allen.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Ethical approval

All procedures involving animals followed approved IACUC protocols and were conducted with the appropriate permits.

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Communicated by David Hawksworth.

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Allen, K.E., Tapondjou, W.P., Freeman, B. et al. Modelling potential Pleistocene habitat corridors between Afromontane forest regions. Biodivers Conserv 30, 2361–2375 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-021-02198-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-021-02198-4

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