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Geological Dates and Molecular Rates: Rapid Divergence of Rivers and Their Biotas
Citation
Waters, JM and Rowe, DL and Apte, S and King, TM and Wallis, GP and Anderson, L and Norris, RJ and Craw, D and Burridge, CP, Geological Dates and Molecular Rates: Rapid Divergence of Rivers and Their Biotas, Systematic Biology, 56, (2) pp. 272-282. ISSN 1063-5157 (2007) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2007 Society of Systematic Biologists
Official URL: http://sysbio.oxfordjournals.org/
DOI: doi:10.1080/10635150701313855
Abstract
We highlight a novel molecular clock calibration system based on geologically dated river reversal and river
capture events. Changes in drainage pattern may effect vicariant isolation of freshwater taxa, and thus provide a predictive
framework for associated phylogeographic study. As a case in point, New Zealand’s Pelorus and Kaituna rivers became
geologically isolated from the larger Wairau River system 70 to 130 kyr BP. We conducted mitochondrial DNA phylogeo-
graphic analyses of two unrelated freshwater-limited fish taxa native to these river systems (Gobiomorphus breviceps, n
=
63; Galaxias divergens, n
= 95). Phylogenetic analysis of combined control region and cytochrome b sequences yielded re-
ciprocally monophyletic clades of Pelorus-Kaituna and Wairau haplotypes for each species. Calibrated rates of molecular
change based on this freshwater vicariant event are substantially faster than traditionally accepted rates for fishes but con-
sistent with other recent inferences based on geologically young calibration points. A survey of freshwater phylogeographic
literature reveals numerous examples in which the ages of recent evolutionary events may have been substantially over-
estimated through the use of "accepted" calibrations. We recommend that—wherever possible—biologists should start to
reassess the conclusions of such studies by using more appropriate molecular calibrations derived from recent geological
events. [Biogeography; calibrations; coalescent; fish; freshwater; geomorphology; geology; molecular clock; mutation rate;
palaeogeography; Pleistocene; purifying selection; refugia; time dependency; vicariance]
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
---|---|
Research Division: | Biological Sciences |
Research Group: | Evolutionary biology |
Research Field: | Biogeography and phylogeography |
Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
Objective Group: | Expanding knowledge |
Objective Field: | Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences |
UTAS Author: | Burridge, CP (Associate Professor Christopher Burridge) |
ID Code: | 59463 |
Year Published: | 2007 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 57 |
Deposited By: | Zoology |
Deposited On: | 2009-12-02 |
Last Modified: | 2009-12-09 |
Downloads: | 2 View Download Statistics |
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