Impact of Quaternary Amazonian river dynamics on the diversification of uakari monkeys (genus Cacajao)
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: ABSTRACT Aim Western Amazonia is a region that underwent several landscape changes during the Quaternary. While Riverine Barrier Hypothesis is traditionally used to explain the influence of rivers on speciation, processes such as river rearrangements have been overlooked to explain the geographic distribution and evolutionary history of the Amazonia biota. Here we test how river rearrangements in western Amazonia influenced the evolutionary history of uakari monkeys, a primate group most associated with seasonally flooded forests in western Amazonia. Location Western Amazonia Taxon The uakari monkey (genus Cacajao ) Methods We performed a continuous phylogeographic analysis using 77 cytochrome b sequences and used digital elevation models to identify the role of landscape and riverscape characteristics in the geographic distribution of Cacajao . Finally, we used genome-wide SNPs variation (ddRADseq) to investigate population structure, gene flow and demographic history in three Cacajao species that were impacted by river rearrangements. Results Our continuous phylogeographical reconstruction points that the ancestral Cacajao lineage occupied the flooded forests of the Solimões River at ∼1.7 Mya, and descendant lineages dispersed throughout western Amazonia more recently. We identified gene flow among both black and bald-headed uakari populations, even across rivers considered barriers (e.g., the Negro River). Landscape analysis showed that river rearrangements influenced the geographic distribution and population structure in Cacajao . The demographic analysis indicates that C. calvus, C. amuna , and C. rubicundus went through a population decline in the last 70 Kya and have a low effective population size. Main conclusion Our results support that the river rearrangements have shaped the geographic distribution and divergence of recently diverged Cacajao lineages. Landscape and riverscape changes, along with retractions of the flooded forests, isolated some Cacajao populations in floodplain areas. Our study also suggests that these events led to the recent population decline in species with a restricted geographic distribution.
Source: Journal of Biogeography
DOI: 10.1111/jbi.14844
Institutions: Université Libre de Bruxelles, Instituto de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Mamirauá, Pennsylvania State University, University of Salford, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Hellenic Agricultural Organization - DIMITRA, Trinity University, Atlantic Technological University, KU Leuven
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funders: Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Primate Conservation, Margot Marsh Biodiversity Foundation, Rufford Foundation, European Commission, Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRS, Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Instituto de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Mamirauá, Vlaamse regering, Natural Environment Research Council
Awards: Integrating spatial heterogeneity with temporal and demographic inferences, with an application to combating human rabies, "Rise of the continent of the monkeys": an integrated genomic and fossil-based analysis of the adaptive radiation of New World primates, Individual Fellowships at the Université libre de Bruxelles, G434337789, G6022412921, MOnitoring Outbreak events for Disease surveillance in a data science context, G8220151524, Habitat Suitability, Geographic Distribution and Conservation of the Bald-Headed Uakaris (Cacajao calvus ssp.) in the Amazon Rainforest, Brazil, Behavioral Ecology and Conservation of White Uakaries (Cacajao calvus calvus) in Amazon, Using Field Surveys and Genomics to Unveil the Population Status of Bald-Headed Uakaris (Cacajao spp.) in Amazon Rainforest, Brazil
OpenAlex ID: W4394568377