Comparative phylogeography of Atlantic reef fishes indicates both origin and accumulation of diversity in the Caribbean.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Two processes may contribute to the formation of global centers of biodiversity: elevated local speciation rates (the center of origin hypothesis), and greater accumulation of species formed elsewhere (the center of accumulation hypothesis). The relative importance of these processes has long intrigued marine biogeographers but rarely has been tested.

Results

To examine how origin and accumulation affected the Greater Caribbean center of diversity, we conducted a range-wide survey of mtDNA cytochrome b in the widespread Atlantic reef damselfish Chromis multilineata (N = 183) that included 10 locations in all four tropical Atlantic biogeographic provinces: the Greater Caribbean, Brazil, the mid-Atlantic ridge, and the tropical eastern Atlantic. We analyzed this dat

SUBMITTER: Rocha LA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2423375 | biostudies-literature | 2008 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature