Article (Scientific journals)
History of the fragmentation of the African rain forest in the Dahomey Gap: insight from the demographic history of Terminalia superba
Demenou, B. B.; Doucet, Jean-Louis; Hardy, O. J.
2018In Heredity, 120, p. 547-561
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Keywords :
African rain forest; Fragmentation; Dahomey gap; Demographic history; Terminalia superba
Abstract :
[en] Paleo-environmental reconstructions show that the distribution of tropical African rain forests was affected by Quaternary climate changes. They suggest that the Dahomey Gap (DG)—the savanna corridor that currently separates Upper Guinean (UG, West Africa) and Lower Guinean (LG, western Central Africa) rain forest blocks—was forested during the African Humid Holocene period (from at least 9 ka till 4.5 ka), and possibly during other interglacial periods, while an open vegetation developed in the DG under drier conditions, notably during glacial maxima. Nowadays, relics of semi-deciduous forests containing UG and LG forest species are still present within the DG. We used one of these species, the pioneer tree Terminalia superba (Combretaceae), to study past forest fragmentation in the DG and its impact on infraspecific biodiversity. A Bayesian clustering analysis of 299 individuals genotyped at 14 nuclear microsatellites revealed five parapatric genetic clusters (UG, DG, and three in LG) with low to moderate genetic differentiation (Fst from 0.02 to 0.24). Approximate Bayesian Computation analyses inferred a demographic bottleneck around the penultimate glacial period in all populations. They also supported an origin of the DG population by admixture of UG and LG populations around 54,000 (27,600–161,000) years bp, thus before the Last Glacial Maximum. These results contrast with those obtained on Distemonanthus benthamianus where the DG population seems to originate from the Humid Holocene period. We discuss these differences in light of the ecology of each species. Our results challenge the simplistic view linking population fragmentation/expansion with glacial/interglacial periods in African forest species. © 2017 The Author(s)
Disciplines :
Phytobiology (plant sciences, forestry, mycology...)
Environmental sciences & ecology
Author, co-author :
Demenou, B. B.;  Faculté des Sciences, Evolution Biologique et Ecologie, Université Libre de Bruxelles, CP160/12, Av. F. D. Roosevelt 50, Brussels, Belgium
Doucet, Jean-Louis ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Ingénierie des biosystèmes (Biose) > Laboratoire de Foresterie des régions trop. et subtropicales
Hardy, O. J.;  Faculté des Sciences, Evolution Biologique et Ecologie, Université Libre de Bruxelles, CP160/12, Av. F. D. Roosevelt 50, Brussels, Belgium
Language :
English
Title :
History of the fragmentation of the African rain forest in the Dahomey Gap: insight from the demographic history of Terminalia superba
Publication date :
2018
Journal title :
Heredity
ISSN :
0018-067X
eISSN :
1365-2540
Publisher :
Nature Publishing Group
Volume :
120
Pages :
547-561
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
Available on ORBi :
since 19 November 2020

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