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Phylogeography of a widespread terrestrial vertebrate in a barely-studied Palearctic region: green toads (Bufo viridis subgroup) indicate glacial refugia in Eastern Central Asia

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Abstract

The phylogeography of western Palearctic species is relatively well studied, but data on Eastern Central Asia are scarce. We present one of the first data sets from a widespread terrestrial vertebrate (Bufo pewzowi) inhabiting Eastern Central Asian mountains and deserts to gain knowledge on its phylogeography in this region. We applied combined phylogenetic and demographic analyses to understand the evolutionary history using mitochondrial DNA D-loop variation of toads from 37 locations. Genetic structure of Bufo pewzowi is strongly affected by landscape: we found three haplotype groups in eastern Kazakhstan, Dzungaria and Tarim Basin, divided by the Tian Shan and Dzungarian Alatau ranges. A vicariant hypothesis may explain divergence among groups. The divergence time of the three major clades was estimated about 0.9 million years ago (confidence interval 0.5–1.4), and is discussed with respect to Quaternary uplifting and glaciation in the Tian Shan. Demographic analyses provided evidence for both historical bottlenecks and population expansions and suggested Pleistocene signatures. Glacial refugia were inferred in the Tarim Basin (around the Turpan depression), in southern Dzungaria (Urumqui region), at the northern foot of the Tian Shan (Gongnaisi) and perhaps at the Altai range (Terekti). Regional Post-Last Glacial Maximum dispersal patterns are proposed. A taxonomic hypothesis is presented. This study provides a detailed history of how a widespread terrestrial vertebrate responded to geological change and Quaternary glacial events in Eastern Central Asia and may have significance for future phylogeographic research in this understudied region.

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Acknowledgements

We are indebted to HESEN Abdureyim (XinJiang Normal University), J. Robert Macey and Theodore J. Papenfuss (University of California, Berkeley) for collecting many samples from Xinjiang and to Tatjana Dujsebayeva and Marina Chirikova (Almaty Institute of Zoology, Laboratory of Ornithology and Herpetology) for providing some samples from East Kazakhstan. We would like to thank Xiao-Hong Chen and Yi-Ling Chen for technical assistance, Qiao-Juan Huang for help with DNA sequencing, a reference from Christoph Muster (University of Leipzig), and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. This research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30771151) and the funds from the Ministry of Education of China (No. IRT0447) to L.-H. Qu. This work was also in part supported by a research fellowship (Sto 493/1–2) from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) to M. Stöck and the University of California, Berkeley (Craig Moritz and David Wake).

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  1. Peng Zhang

    Present address: Department of Integrative Biology, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, 3101 Valley of Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, CA, 94720-3160, USA

  2. Matthias Stöck

    Present address: Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Biophore, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Gene Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Biotechnology Research Center, Zhongshan University, Guangzhou, 510275, P.R. China

    Yi-Jun Zhang, Peng Zhang, Hui Zhou & Liang-Hu Qu

  2. Department of Integrative Biology, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, 3101 Valley of Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, CA, 94720-3160, USA

    Matthias Stöck

  3. Department of Biology, Xinjiang Normal University, Xinjiang, 830054, P.R. China

    Xiu-Ling Wang

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Zhang, YJ., Stöck, M., Zhang, P. et al. Phylogeography of a widespread terrestrial vertebrate in a barely-studied Palearctic region: green toads (Bufo viridis subgroup) indicate glacial refugia in Eastern Central Asia. Genetica 134, 353–365 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10709-008-9243-0

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