Examining the interglacial high-elevation refugia scenario in East Asian subtropical mountain systems with the frog species Leptobrachium liui.

ABSTRACT: The effects of Quaternary climatic oscillations on the distributions of organisms in different parts of the world are not equally well understood, limiting the ability to understand the determinants of biodiversity. Compared with the mountain regions in southern Europe and southwestern North America, such effects on high-elevation species in the East Asian subtropical mountain systems located in southern and southeastern China have seldom been addressed. In this study, using Leptobrachium liui (Megophryidae), we made one of the earliest attempts to examine the interglacial high-elevation refugia scenario in these Asian mountains. Based on our current understanding of the study system, we formulated a hypothesis that these frogs of western origin were distributed more widely and cont

SUBMITTER: Zheng Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6194219 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature