Population expansions dominate demographic histories of endemic and widespread Pacific reef fishes.

ABSTRACT: Despite the unique nature of endemic species, their origin and population history remain poorly studied. We investigated the population history of 28 coral reef fish species, close related, from the Gambier and Marquesas Islands, from five families, with range size varying from widespread to small-range endemic. We analyzed both mitochondrial and nuclear sequence data using neutrality test and Bayesian analysis (EBSP and ABC). We found evidence for demographic expansions for most species (24 of 28), irrespective of range size, reproduction strategy or archipelago. The timing of the expansions varied greatly among species, from 8,000 to 2,000,000 years ago. The typical hypothesis for reef fish that links population expansions to the Last Glacial Maximum fit for 14 of the 24 demographic expa

SUBMITTER: Delrieu-Trottin E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5238389 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature