TY  - JOUR
A1  - Patel, Riddhi P.
A1  - Förster, Daniel W.
A1  - Kitchener, Andrew C.
A1  - Rayan, Mark D.
A1  - Mohamed, Shariff W.
A1  - Werner, Laura
A1  - Lenz, Dorina
A1  - Pfestorf, Hans
A1  - Kramer-Schadt, Stephanie
A1  - Radchuk, Viktoriia
A1  - Fickel, Jörns
A1  - Wilting, Andreas
T1  - Two species of Southeast Asian cats in the genus Catopuma with diverging histories: an island endemic forest specialist and a widespread habitat generalist
JF  - Royal Society Open Science
N2  - Background. The bay cat Catopuma badia is endemic to Borneo, whereas its sister species the Asian golden cat Catopuma temminckii is distributed from the Himalayas and southern China through Indochina, Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra. Based onmorphological data, up to five subspecies of the Asian golden cat have been recognized, but a taxonomic assessment, including molecular data and morphological characters, is still lacking. Results. We combined molecular data (whole mitochondrial genomes), morphological data (pelage) and species distribution projections (up to the Late Pleistocene) to infer how environmental changes may have influenced the distribution of these sister species over the past 120 000 years. The molecular analysis was based on sequenced mitogenomes of 3 bay cats and 40 Asian golden cats derived mainly from archival samples. Our molecular data suggested a time of split between the two species approximately 3.16 Ma and revealed very low nucleotide diversity within the Asian golden cat population, which supports recent expansion of the population. Discussion. The low nucleotide diversity suggested a population bottleneck in the Asian golden cat, possibly caused by the eruption of the Toba volcano in Northern Sumatra (approx. 74 kya), followed by a continuous population expansion in the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene. Species distribution projections, the reconstruction of the demographic history, a genetic isolation-by-distance pattern and a gradual variation of pelage pattern support the hypothesis of a post-Toba population expansion of the Asian golden cat from south China/Indochina to PeninsularMalaysia and Sumatra. Our findings reject the current classification of five subspecies for the Asian golden cat, but instead support either a monotypic species or one comprising two subspecies: (i) the Sunda golden cat, distributed south of the Isthmus of Kra: C. t. temminckii and (ii) Indochinese, Indian, Himalayan and Chinese golden cats, occurring north of the Isthmus: C. t. moormensis.
KW  - Felidae
KW  - Southeast Asia
KW  - last glacial maximum
KW  - Toba volcanic eruption
KW  - hybrid capture
KW  - next generation sequencing
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160350
SN  - 2054-5703
VL  - 3
SP  - 741
EP  - 752
PB  - Royal Society
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Alter, S. Elizabeth
A1  - Meyer, Matthias
A1  - Post, Klaas
A1  - Czechowski, Paul
A1  - Gravlund, Peter
A1  - Gaines, Cork
A1  - Rosenbaum, Howard C.
A1  - Kaschner, Kristin
A1  - Turvey, Samuel T.
A1  - van der Plicht, Johannes
A1  - Shapiro, Beth
A1  - Hofreiter, Michael
T1  - Climate impacts on transocean dispersal and habitat in gray whales from the Pleistocene to 2100
JF  - Molecular ecology
N2  - Arctic animals face dramatic habitat alteration due to ongoing climate change. Understanding how such species have responded to past glacial cycles can help us forecast their response to today's changing climate. Gray whales are among those marine species likely to be strongly affected by Arctic climate change, but a thorough analysis of past climate impacts on this species has been complicated by lack of information about an extinct population in the Atlantic. While little is known about the history of Atlantic gray whales or their relationship to the extant Pacific population, the extirpation of the Atlantic population during historical times has been attributed to whaling. We used a combination of ancient and modern DNA, radiocarbon dating and predictive habitat modelling to better understand the distribution of gray whales during the Pleistocene and Holocene. Our results reveal that dispersal between the Pacific and Atlantic was climate dependent and occurred both during the Pleistocene prior to the last glacial period and the early Holocene immediately following the opening of the Bering Strait. Genetic diversity in the Atlantic declined over an extended interval that predates the period of intensive commercial whaling, indicating this decline may have been precipitated by Holocene climate or other ecological causes. These first genetic data for Atlantic gray whales, particularly when combined with predictive habitat models for the year 2100, suggest that two recent sightings of gray whales in the Atlantic may represent the beginning of the expansion of this species' habitat beyond its currently realized range.
KW  - ancient DNA
KW  - climate change
KW  - last glacial maximum
KW  - marine mammal
Y1  - 2015
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.13121
SN  - 0962-1083
SN  - 1365-294X
VL  - 24
IS  - 7
SP  - 1510
EP  - 1522
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
CY  - Hoboken
ER  -