近日，国际著名杂志Molecular Ecology杂志刊登了中科院成都生物所研究人员的最新研究成果“Coalescence patterns of endemic Tibetan species of stream salamanders (Hynobiidae：Batrachuperus)，”，文章中，研究者发现了青藏高原隆起导致山溪鲵种群分化。
理解地质运动和气候变化等历史因素是如何驱动种群片段化、拓殖和扩张等分化过程，是谱系生物地理学研究的核心。青藏高原东缘山区受高原隆起影响，地质结构极端复杂、物种丰富，为研究地质及气候变化对物种及种群分化的影响提供了得天独厚的条件。
中科院成都生物研究所曾晓茂研究组博士生吕彬等人利用溯祖模拟方法，对生活在青藏高原东缘山区的山溪鲵属5个物种进行了谱系地理学研究，结果显示该属物种种内的分化可能是由于青藏高原近期的隆起事件导致，且高海拔和低海拔物种可能具有不同的进化历史：在分化模式上，受地质拓扑结构的影响，西部高海拔物种主要经历了阶段性的分化过程，长距离迁徙后再发生隔离分化，东部低海拔物种直接由祖先物种分化而来，没有经历迁徙过程，呈现片段化；在对冰期的反应上，高、低海拔物种对于冰期的反应也有差异。耐寒的高海拔物种主要受到近期的冰期的影响(0.016–0.032 Ma)，种群大小经历了下降的过程。与此相对，生活在温暖潮湿环境中的低海拔物种主要受到更强烈的，持续时间更长的冰期的影响(0.5–0.175 Ma)，近期的冰期对其影响不大。（生物谷Bioon.com）
doi:10.1111/j.1365-294X.2012.05606.x
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Coalescence patterns of endemic Tibetan species of stream salamanders (Hynobiidae: Batrachuperus)
BIN LU1,2, YUCHI ZHENG1, ROBERT W. MURPHY3,4, XIAOMAO ZENG1
Orogenesis of topographically diverse montane regions often drives complex evolutionary histories of species. The extensive biodiversity of the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, which gradually decreases eastwardly, facilitates a comparison of historical patterns. We use coalescence methods to compare species of stream salamanders (Batrachuperus) that occur at high and low elevations. Coalescent simulations reveal that closely related species are likely to have been influenced by different drivers of diversification. Species living in the western high-elevation region with its northsouth extending mountains appear to have experienced colonization via dispersal followed by isolation and divergence. In contrast, species on the eastern low-elevation region, which has many discontinuous mountain ranges, appear to have experienced fragmentation, sometimes staged, of wide-ranging ancestral populations. The two groups of species appear to have been affected differently by glaciation. High-elevation species, which are more resistant to cooler temperatures, appear to have experienced population declines as recently as the last glaciation (0.016–0.032 Ma). In contrast, salamanders dwelling in the warmer and wetter habitats at low-elevation environs appear to have been affected less by the relatively recent, milder glaciation, and more so by harsher, extensive glaciations (0.5–0.175 Ma). Thus, elevation, topography and cold tolerance appear to drive evolutionary patterns of diversification and demography even among closely related taxa. The comparison of multiple species in genealogical analyses can lead to an understanding of the evolutionary drivers.
