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Ecological and geographic modes of species divergence in wild tomatoes
Author(s) -
Nakazato Takuya,
Warren Dan L.,
Moyle Leonie C.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.3732/ajb.0900216
Subject(s) - allopatric speciation , sympatric speciation , biology , ecology , ecological niche , niche , range (aeronautics) , sympatry , environmental niche modelling , niche differentiation , ecological speciation , divergence (linguistics) , species distribution , genetic algorithm , context (archaeology) , habitat , population , gene flow , genetic variation , biochemistry , materials science , demography , linguistics , philosophy , paleontology , sociology , gene , composite material
Understanding the role of geography and ecology in species divergence is central to the study of evolutionary diversification. We used climatic, geographic, and biological data from nine wild Andean tomato species to describe each species’ ecological niche and to evaluate the likely ecological and geographical modes of speciation in this clade. Using data from >1000 wild accessions and publicly available data derived from geographic information systems for various environmental variables, we found most species pairs were significantly differentiated for one or more environmental variables. By comparing species’ predicted niches generated by species distribution modeling (SDM), we found significant niche differentiation among three of four sister‐species pairs, suggesting ecological divergence is consistently associated with recent divergence. In comparison, based on age‐range correlation (ARC) analysis, there was no evidence for a predominant geographical (allopatric vs. sympatric) context for speciation in this group. Overall, our results suggest an important role for environmentally mediated differentiation, rather than simply geographical isolation, in species divergence.