Bermuda as an evolutionary life raft for an ancient lineage of endangered lizards.

Oceanic islands are well known for harboring diverse species assemblages and are frequently the basis of research on adaptive radiation and neoendemism. However, a commonly overlooked role of some islands is their function in preserving ancient lineages that have become extinct everywhere else (pale...

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Autores principales:	Matthew C Brandley, Yuezhao Wang, Xianguang Guo, Adrián Nieto Montes de Oca, Manuel Fería Ortíz, Tsutomu Hikida, Hidetoshi Ota
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2010
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/060eaf155f4c448ab9c819a9cc6f3840
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:060eaf155f4c448ab9c819a9cc6f38402021-12-02T20:20:22ZBermuda as an evolutionary life raft for an ancient lineage of endangered lizards.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0011375https://doaj.org/article/060eaf155f4c448ab9c819a9cc6f38402010-06-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/20614024/pdf/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Oceanic islands are well known for harboring diverse species assemblages and are frequently the basis of research on adaptive radiation and neoendemism. However, a commonly overlooked role of some islands is their function in preserving ancient lineages that have become extinct everywhere else (paleoendemism). The island archipelago of Bermuda is home to a single species of extant terrestrial vertebrate, the endemic skink Plestiodon (formerly Eumeces) longirostris. The presence of this species is surprising because Bermuda is an isolated, relatively young oceanic island approximately 1000 km from the eastern United States. Here, we apply Bayesian phylogenetic analyses using a relaxed molecular clock to demonstrate that the island of Bermuda, although no older than two million years, is home to the only extant representative of one of the earliest mainland North American Plestiodon lineages, which diverged from its closest living relatives 11.5 to 19.8 million years ago. This implies that, within a short geological time frame, mainland North American ancestors of P. longirostris colonized the recently emergent Bermuda and the entire lineage subsequently vanished from the mainland. Thus, our analyses reveal that Bermuda is an example of a "life raft" preserving millions of years of unique evolutionary history, now at the brink of extinction. Threats such as habitat destruction, littering, and non-native species have severely reduced the population size of this highly endangered lizard.Matthew C BrandleyYuezhao WangXianguang GuoAdrián Nieto Montes de OcaManuel Fería OrtízTsutomu HikidaHidetoshi OtaPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 5, Iss 6, p e11375 (2010)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Matthew C Brandley Yuezhao Wang Xianguang Guo Adrián Nieto Montes de Oca Manuel Fería Ortíz Tsutomu Hikida Hidetoshi Ota Bermuda as an evolutionary life raft for an ancient lineage of endangered lizards.
description	Oceanic islands are well known for harboring diverse species assemblages and are frequently the basis of research on adaptive radiation and neoendemism. However, a commonly overlooked role of some islands is their function in preserving ancient lineages that have become extinct everywhere else (paleoendemism). The island archipelago of Bermuda is home to a single species of extant terrestrial vertebrate, the endemic skink Plestiodon (formerly Eumeces) longirostris. The presence of this species is surprising because Bermuda is an isolated, relatively young oceanic island approximately 1000 km from the eastern United States. Here, we apply Bayesian phylogenetic analyses using a relaxed molecular clock to demonstrate that the island of Bermuda, although no older than two million years, is home to the only extant representative of one of the earliest mainland North American Plestiodon lineages, which diverged from its closest living relatives 11.5 to 19.8 million years ago. This implies that, within a short geological time frame, mainland North American ancestors of P. longirostris colonized the recently emergent Bermuda and the entire lineage subsequently vanished from the mainland. Thus, our analyses reveal that Bermuda is an example of a "life raft" preserving millions of years of unique evolutionary history, now at the brink of extinction. Threats such as habitat destruction, littering, and non-native species have severely reduced the population size of this highly endangered lizard.
format	article
author	Matthew C Brandley Yuezhao Wang Xianguang Guo Adrián Nieto Montes de Oca Manuel Fería Ortíz Tsutomu Hikida Hidetoshi Ota
author_facet	Matthew C Brandley Yuezhao Wang Xianguang Guo Adrián Nieto Montes de Oca Manuel Fería Ortíz Tsutomu Hikida Hidetoshi Ota
author_sort	Matthew C Brandley
title	Bermuda as an evolutionary life raft for an ancient lineage of endangered lizards.
title_short	Bermuda as an evolutionary life raft for an ancient lineage of endangered lizards.
title_full	Bermuda as an evolutionary life raft for an ancient lineage of endangered lizards.
title_fullStr	Bermuda as an evolutionary life raft for an ancient lineage of endangered lizards.
title_full_unstemmed	Bermuda as an evolutionary life raft for an ancient lineage of endangered lizards.
title_sort	bermuda as an evolutionary life raft for an ancient lineage of endangered lizards.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2010
url	https://doaj.org/article/060eaf155f4c448ab9c819a9cc6f3840
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Bermuda as an evolutionary life raft for an ancient lineage of endangered lizards.

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