Strict consistency between genetic and topographic landscapes of the brown tree frog (Buergeria robusta) in Taiwan

Abstract

Taiwan presents an excellent opportunity to build a phylogeographic paradigm for fine-scaled differentiation occurring within short distances on an single island. Due to the limitation of habitat availability on the island, demographic histories of species in Taiwan were strongly influenced by glacial-interglacial cycles. Nevertheless, there are relatively few studies demonstrating such phylogeographic patterns for islands, especially in subtropical Asia. In this study, we aim to construct the genetic landscape of a philopatric stream frog Buergeria robusta by an intense and fine-scaled collection throughout the island. The deduced genetic landscape of B. robusta presented extremely high congruence with the actual topography of Taiwan. Two major lineages were found on the eastern and the western sides of Taiwan with a non-overlapping distribution, indicating the importance of the Central Mountain Range as the major biogeographic barrier. Both clades showed a strong and congruent tendency of demographic or distributional expansion in recent history based on different analyses. Population expansion of such a subtropical lowland species might be a result from a release of available habitat in post-glacial periods.