Abstract Detail

Phylogenomics

Environment and geography drive diversification within the Amazon tree, Protium subserratum.

The lowland Amazon rainforest houses some of the greatest tree diversity on earth. While the vast majority of these species are rare, a number are exceptional due to the fact that they are common and widespread. While, several recent studies have found that some dominant species are actually composed of multiple independently evolving lineages, basic taxonomic, ecological and distributional data are lacking for most Amazonian tree taxa. Thus, the extent to which widespread and common Amazonian trees are actually represented by multiple lineages is unknown. Here we investigate the extent to which lineage divergence may be occurring within Protium subserratum (Burseraceae), a common and widespread tree with populations that exhibit genotypic and phenotypic differences associated with environment and geography. Utilizing a combination of phylogenomic and population genomic methods with sampling from across the range we addressed the following questions: 1) To what extent has lineage diversification occurred within P. subserratum? 2) How many times has specialization onto white-sand soils arisen? 3) Is phenotype correlated with soil type? and 4) Are other environmental factors correlated with lineage diversification? Our results suggest that P. subserratum may represent at least eight distinct lineages defined by geography and environment. Specialization onto white sand soils has evolved independently at least two times within the species; however, phenotype is only correlated with soil type in the Western Amazon. Finally, cryptic diversity at the base of the Andes is associated with elevational shifts. Together these results lend support to the hypothesis that common and widespread species may represent multiple, independently evolving lineages.

1 - University Of Oklahoma, Department Of Microbiology And Plant Biology, Norman, OK, 73019, United States

Keywords:
Amazon
speciation
Ecological divergence
soils
Tropical biodiversity.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Number: PHYLO I015
Abstract ID:671
Candidate for Awards:None