Integrating phylogenetic and environmental niche models to explore speciation mechanisms in the Erythrophleum genus in tropical Africa

In the context of global climate change, it is of primary importance to understand the species response to climate (habitat tracking or adaptation). In this study we investigated the evolutionary history of the climatic niche between and within closely related tropical tree species of the Erythrophleum genus (Fabaceae, Caesalpinioideae): E. ivorense, E. suaveolens and E. africanum. Two major hypotheses, the refuge theory and the ecological gradient hypothesis, have been developed to explain the current distribution of tree clades across tropical Africa. To identify the speciation mechanisms, we used a combination of geographic data and environmental factors to quantify the degree of niche conservatism (or divergence).
We used two sets of distribution data for the purpose of this study. Species distribution data for the whole of tropical Africa were gathered from herbarium records. Distribution data of the two sister species E. ivorense and E. suaveolens assigned to genetic cluster were available for the lowland tropical forests of western and central Africa. Using a Species Distribution Model (SDM) approach based on MaxEnt algorithm, we tested for the environmental differences (BIOCLIM data) between species and genetic clusters within species. We developed SDMs for each of the three Erythrophleum species (over the whole range) and for each of the five genetic clusters. We quantified the niche overlap using new niche similarity metrics.
At species level, the climatic niches differed significantly and overlapped only sligthly, suggesting a parapatric speciation along a climatic gradient. Within the two sister species, the niche of the parapatric central African clusters strongly overlapped, suggesting a secondary contact following the recolonization from different forest refugia. The west African cluster however showed contrasted climatic niches possibly due to either recent (< 100 yrs) climate change in west Africa, or ongoing differentiation on the dry part of the climatic gradient.