Holocene bidirectional river system along the Kenya Rift and its influence on East African faunal exchange and diversity gradients.

ABSTRACT: East Africa is a global biodiversity hotspot and exhibits distinct longitudinal diversity gradients from west to east in freshwater fishes and forest mammals. The assembly of this exceptional biodiversity and the drivers behind diversity gradients remain poorly understood, with diversification often studied at local scales and less attention paid to biotic exchange between Afrotropical regions. Here, we reconstruct a river system that existed for several millennia along the now semiarid Kenya Rift Valley during the humid early Holocene and show how this river system influenced postglacial dispersal of fishes and mammals due to its dual role as a dispersal corridor and barrier. Using geomorphological, geochronological, isotopic, and fossil analyses and a synthesis of radiocarbon dates, we f

SUBMITTER: Dommain R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9282390 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature