Hans Peter Comes

Publications of Hans Peter Comes

• Chloroplast phylogeography of Terminalia franchetii (Combretaceae) from the eastern Sino-Himalayan region and its correlation with historical river capture events.

  Authors: Ti-Cao Zhang, Hans Peter Comes, Hang Sun

  Molecular phylogenetics and evolution. 07/2011; 60(1):1-12.

  The reorganization of major river drainages in the Sino-Himalayan region of Southwest China was caused primarily by river separation and capture events following the most recent uplift of the TibetanThe reorganization of major river drainages in the Sino-Himalayan region of Southwest China was caused primarily by river separation and capture events following the most recent uplift of the Tibetan Plateau (≤ 3.4 Ma). Terminalia franchetii is a shrub or small tree species endemic to the river valleys of this region. Based on a range-wide sampling comprising 28 populations and 258 individuals, we investigated the relationship between the modern phylogeographic structure of T. franchetii and geological changes in drainage patterns, using chloroplast DNA sequences (trnL-F, petL-psbE). T. franchetii was found to harbor high haplotype diversity (h(T)=0.784) but low average within-population diversity (h(S)=0.124). Mismatch distribution and neutrality tests provided no evidence of recent demographic population growth. Two (out of five) population groups identified exhibited a disjunctive distribution of dominant haplotypes between northern and southern valleys, corresponding to the geography of past drainage systems. We conclude that the modern disjunctive distribution of T. franchetii, and associated patterns of cpDNA haplotype variation, result from vicariance caused by several historical river separation and capture events. Overall, our inferred timings of these events (mostly mid-to-late Pleistocene) agree with previous time estimates of drainage re-arrangements in the Sino-Himalayan region.

• Plant molecular phylogeography in China and adjacent regions: Tracing the genetic imprints of Quaternary climate and environmental change in the world's most diverse temperate flora.

  Authors: Ying-Xiong Qiu, Cheng-Xing Fu, Hans Peter Comes

  Molecular phylogenetics and evolution. 02/2011; 59(1):225-44.

  The Sino-Japanese Floristic Region (SJFR) of East Asia harbors the most diverse of the world's temperate flora, and was the most important glacial refuge for its Tertiary representatives ('relics')The Sino-Japanese Floristic Region (SJFR) of East Asia harbors the most diverse of the world's temperate flora, and was the most important glacial refuge for its Tertiary representatives ('relics') throughout Quaternary ice-age cycles. A steadily increasing number of phylogeographic studies in the SJFR of mainland China and adjacent areas, including the Qinghai-Tibetan-Plateau (QTP) and Sino-Himalayan region, have documented the population histories of temperate plant species in these regions. Here we review this current literature that challenges the oft-stated view of the SJFR as a glacial sanctuary for temperate plants, instead revealing profound effects of Quaternary changes in climate, topography, and/or sea level on the current genetic structure of such organisms. There are three recurrent phylogeographic scenarios identified by different case studies that broadly agree with longstanding biogeographic or palaeo-ecological hypotheses: (i) postglacial re-colonization of the QTP from (south-)eastern glacial refugia; (ii) population isolation and endemic species formation in Southwest China due to tectonic shifts and river course dynamics; and (iii) long-term isolation and species survival in multiple localized refugia of (warm-)temperate deciduous forest habitats in subtropical (Central/East/South) China. However, in four additional instances, phylogeographic findings seem to conflict with a priori predictions raised by palaeo-data, suggesting instead: (iv) glacial in situ survival of some hardy alpine herbs and forest trees on the QTP platform itself; (v) long-term refugial isolation of (warm-)temperate evergreen taxa in subtropical China; (vi) 'cryptic' glacial survival of (cool-)temperate deciduous forest trees in North China; and (vii) unexpectedly deep (Late Tertiary/early-to-mid Pleistocene) allopatric-vicariant differentiation of disjunct lineages in the East China-Japan-Korea region due to past sea transgressions. We discuss these and other consequences of the main phylogeographic findings in light of palaeo-environmental evidence, emphasize notable gaps in our knowledge, and outline future research prospects for disentangling the evolution and biogeographic history of the region's extremely diverse temperate flora.

• Glacial survival east and west of the 'Mekong-Salween Divide' in the Himalaya-Hengduan Mountains region as revealed by AFLPs and cpDNA sequence variation in Sinopodophyllum hexandrum (Berberidaceae).

  Authors: Yong Li, Sheng-Nan Zhai, Ying-Xiong Qiu, Yan-Ping Guo, Xue-Jun Ge, Hans Peter Comes

  Molecular phylogenetics and evolution. 02/2011; 59(2):412-24.

  Molecular phylogeographic studies have recently begun to elucidate how plant species from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) and adjacent regions responded to the Quaternary climatic oscillations. InMolecular phylogeographic studies have recently begun to elucidate how plant species from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) and adjacent regions responded to the Quaternary climatic oscillations. In this regard, however, far less attention has been paid to the southern and south-eastern declivities of the QTP, i.e. the Himalaya-Hengduan Mountains (HHM) region. Here, we report a survey of amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) and chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) sequence variation in the HHM endemic Sinopodophyllum hexandrum, a highly selfing alpine perennial herb with mainly gravity-dispersed berries (105 individuals, 19 localities). We specifically aimed to test a vicariant evolutionary hypothesis across the 'Mekong-Salween Divide', a known biogeographic and phytogeographic boundary of north-to-south trending river valleys separating the East Himalayas and Hengduan Mts. Both cpDNA and AFLPs identified two divergent phylogroups largely congruent with these mountain ranges. There was no genetic depauperation in the more strongly glaciated East Himalayas (AFLPs: H(E)=0.031; cpDNA: h(S)=0.133) compared to the mainly ice-free Hengduan Mts. (AFLPs: H(E)=0.037; cpDNA: h(S)=0.082), while population differentiation was consistently higher in the former region (AFLPs: Φ(ST)=0.522 vs. 0.312; cpDNA: Φ(ST)=0.785 vs. 0.417). Our results suggest that East Himalayan and Hengduan populations of S. hexandrum were once fragmented, persisted in situ during glacials in both areas, and have not merged again, except for a major instance of inter-lineage chloroplast capture identified at the MSD boundary. Our coalescent time estimate for all cpDNA haplotypes (c. 0.37-0.48 mya), together with paleogeological evidence, strongly rejects paleo-drainage formation as a mechanism underlying allopatric fragmentation, whereas mountain glaciers following the ridges of the MSD during glacials (and possible interglacials) could have been responsible. This study thus indicates an important role for mountain glaciers in driving (incipient) allopatric speciation across the MSD in the HHM region by causing vicariant lineage divergence and acting as barriers to post-divergence gene flow.

• Genetic structure and breeding system of a rare understory herb, Dysosma versipellis (Berberidaceae), from temperate deciduous forests in China.

  Authors: Bi-Cai Guan, Cheng-Xing Fu, Ying-Xiong Qiu, Shi-Liang Zhou, Hans Peter Comes

  American journal of botany. 01/2010; 97(1):111-22.

  To evaluate the role of Quaternary refugial isolation in allopatric (incipient) speciation of East Asian temperate forest biotas, we analyzed amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) and theTo evaluate the role of Quaternary refugial isolation in allopatric (incipient) speciation of East Asian temperate forest biotas, we analyzed amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) and the breeding system in Dysosma versipellis. The study revealed that D. versipellis is mostly self-incompatible, genetically highly subdivided and depauperate at the population level (e.g., Φ(ST) = 0.572/H(E) = 0.083), and characterized by a low pollen-to-seed migration ratio (r ≈ 4.0). The latter outcome likely reflects limited pollen flow in a low-seed disperser whose hypothesized "sapromyophilous" flowers undergo scarce, inefficient, and likely specialized cross-pollination by small Anoplodera beetles, rather than carrion flies as assumed previously. In consequence, fruit set in D. versipellis was strongly pollen-limited. Our AFLP data support the hypothesis of a long-standing cessation of gene flow between western and central eastern populations, consistent with previous chloroplast DNA data. This phylogeographic pattern supports the role of the Sichuan Basin as a floristic boundary separating the Sino-Himalayan vs. Sino-Japanese Forest subkingdoms. Our genetic data of D. versipellis also imply that temperate deciduous forest elements to the west and the east of this basin responded differently to Quaternary climate change, which may have triggered or is leading to allopatric (incipient) speciation.

• Molecular phylogeography of East Asian Kirengeshoma (Hydrangeaceae) in relation to Quaternary climate change and landbridge configurations.

  Authors: Ying-Xiong Qiu, Yi Sun, Xiao-Ping Zhang, Joongku Lee, Cheng-Xin Fu, Hans Peter Comes

  The New phytologist. 07/2009;

  * Kirengeshoma comprises two species inhabiting warm temperate-deciduous forests in East China/South Japan (Kirengeshoma palmata) and South Korea (Kirengeshoma koreana). A survey of chloroplast (cp)* Kirengeshoma comprises two species inhabiting warm temperate-deciduous forests in East China/South Japan (Kirengeshoma palmata) and South Korea (Kirengeshoma koreana). A survey of chloroplast (cp) DNA and inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSRs) variation in Kirengeshoma was carried out to determine the population history of a plant taxon around the East China Sea (ECS). * CpDNA and ISSRs revealed lower genetic divergence between China and Japan relative to the other contrasts, in line with intrageneric classification. Molecular dating suggests that K. koreana diverged at the Plio-Pleistocene boundary from the Japanese populations, whereas the latter migrated into China during the early-to-mid Pleistocene via the ECS basin. Vicariant segregation of Chinese and Japanese populations likely occurred during the mid-Pleistocene. * Mismatch distributions and neutrality tests indicated that Chinese populations expanded their range during the Late Pleistocene, probably during a cold period, whereas those from Japan showed no significant population growth. * We conclude that the current distribution and differentiation of components of presently isolated warm temperate-deciduous forests in China, Japan and Korea likely resulted from a combination of relatively ancient vicariant and immigration events, and those from Japan were particularly sensitive to range fragmentation and long-term refugial isolation throughout the Late Pleistocene.

• Did glacials and/or interglacials promote allopatric incipient speciation in East Asian temperate plants? Phylogeographic and coalescent analyses on refugial isolation and divergence in Dysosma versipellis.

  Authors: Ying-Xiong Qiu, Bi-Cai Guan, Cheng-Xin Fu, Hans Peter Comes

  Molecular phylogenetics and evolution. 03/2009;

  To explore the evolutionary consequences of climate-induced fluctuations in presently fragmented temperate forest habitats in continental East Asia we investigated the phylogeography and demographicTo explore the evolutionary consequences of climate-induced fluctuations in presently fragmented temperate forest habitats in continental East Asia we investigated the phylogeography and demographic history of the temperate-deciduous forest endemic Dysosma versipellis from disjunct montane sites in Central-Southeast China. Based on a survey of chloroplast (cp) DNA sequence variation, our analyses show that this perennial herb consists of morphologically indistinguishable western and central/eastern cpDNA lineages. Coalescent analyses under the 'isolation with migration' (IM) model support an ancient (Mid-Pleistocene) divergence between these lineages, with the western lineage having persisted without significant population growth in a long-term refuge just east of the Tibetan (Qinghai-Xizang) Plateau. In contrast, for the central/eastern lineage, we found strong evidence for population expansion from a refuge located south of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and likely coinciding with the last or penultimate interglacial, followed by considerable population isolation and divergence in situ over (at least) the latest glacial-interglacial cycle. In line with recent evidence from palaeomodeling of East Asian forest biomes, our results suggest that the same vicariance factor, i.e. climate-induced eco-geographic isolation through (a)biotic displacement of temperate-deciduous forested habitats, promoted the divergence of D. versipellis lineages and populations at different spatial-temporal scales and over glacial and interglacial periods. Thus, there is no evidence that populations ofD. versipellis merged at lower elevations during the last glacial(s). As such, D. versipellis accords with the premise that Late Quaternary refugial isolation is likely to have enhanced allopatric (incipient) species formation of temperate plants in East Asia.

• An AFLP clock for the absolute dating of shallow-time evolutionary history based on the intraspecific divergence of southwestern European alpine plant species.

  Authors: Matthias Kropf, Hans Peter Comes, Joachim W Kadereit

  Molecular ecology. 02/2009;

  Abstract The dating of recent events in the history of organisms needs divergence rates based on molecular fingerprint markers. Here, we used amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) of threeAbstract The dating of recent events in the history of organisms needs divergence rates based on molecular fingerprint markers. Here, we used amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) of three distantly related alpine plant species co-occurring in the Spanish Sierra Nevada, the Pyrenees and the southwestern Alps/Massif Central to establish divergence rates. Within each of these species (Gentiana alpina, Kernera saxatilis and Silene rupestris), we found that the degree of AFLP divergence (D(N72)) between mountain phylogroups was significantly correlated with their time of divergence (as inferred from palaeoclimatic/palynological data), indicating constant AFLP divergence rates. As these rates did not differ significantly among species, a regression analysis based on the pooled data was utilized to generate a general AFLP rate. The application of this latter rate to AFLP data from other herbaceous plant species (Minuartia biflora: Schönswetter et al. 2006; Nigella degenii: Comes et al. 2008) resulted in a plausible timing of the recolonization of the Svalbard Islands and the separation of populations from the Alps and Scandinavia (Minuartia), and of island population separation in the Aegean Archipelago (Nigella). Furthermore, the AFLP mutation rate obtained in our study is of the same magnitude as AFLP mutation rates published previously. The temporal limits of our AFLP rate, which is based on intraspecific vicariance events at shallow (i.e. late glacial/Early Holocene) time scales, remains to be tested.

• Phylogeography of two East Asian species in Croomia (Stemonaceae) inferred from chloroplast DNA and ISSR fingerprinting variation.

  Authors: En-Xiang Li, Sun Yi, Ying-Xiong Qiu, Jiang-Tao Guo, Hans Peter Comes, Cheng-Xin Fu

  Molecular phylogenetics and evolution. 09/2008;

  The genus Croomia (Stemonaceae) comprises three herbaceous perennial species that are distributed in temperate-deciduous forests in Southeastern North America (C.pauciflora) and East Asia (C.The genus Croomia (Stemonaceae) comprises three herbaceous perennial species that are distributed in temperate-deciduous forests in Southeastern North America (C.pauciflora) and East Asia (C. japonica, C. heterosepala). The two Asian species have abutting ranges in Southern Japan, but C. japonica also occurs disjunctively on the adjacent Asiatic mainland in East China. In our phylogenetic analysis of Croomia, based on chloroplast (cp) DNA sequence variation of the trnL-F region, and rooted with Stemona spp., the two Asian species are identified as sister that likely diverged in the Mid-to-Late Pleistocene (0.84-0.13 mya), whereas the divergence of C. pauciflora dates back to the Late Plio-/Pleistocene (<2.6 mya). Phylogeographical analysis of the two East Asian species detected seven cpDNA (trnL-F) haplotypes across 16 populations surveyed, and all of those were fixed for a particular cpDNA haplotype (H(E)=0.0, G(ST)=1). A survey of inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSRs) markers also detected remarkably low levels of within-population diversity (C. japonica: H(E)=0.085; C. heterosepala: H(E)=0.125), and high levels of inter-population differentiation (C. japonica: Phi(ST)=0.736; C. heterosepala: Phi(ST)=0.550), at least partly due to pronounced regional genetic substructure within both species. Non-overlapping distributions of cpDNA haplotypes and strong genetic (cpDNA/ISSR) differentiation among populations and/or regions accord with findings of a nested clade analysis, which inferred allopatric fragmentation as the major process influencing the spatial haplotype distribution of the two species. Based on mismatch distribution analysis and neutrality tests, we do not find evidence of population expansion in both species. Overall, we conclude that components of temperate-deciduous forest types in South Japan and East China are particularly sensitive to range fragmentation, isolation, and enhanced (incipient) species formation through climate-induced expansions of other forest types over glacial and interglacial periods of the (Late) Quaternary.

• Blowin' in the wind - the transition from ecotype to species.

  Authors: Richard J Abbott, Hans Peter Comes

  The New phytologist. 02/2007; 175(2):197-200.

• Late Quaternary history of Hippophaë rhamnoides L. (Elaeagnaceae) inferred from chalcone synthase intron (Chsi) sequences and chloroplast DNA variation.

  Authors: Igor V Bartish, Joachim W Kadereit, Hans Peter Comes

  Molecular ecology. 12/2006; 15(13):4065-83.

  Fossil pollen records indicate that Hippophaë rhamnoides (Sea Buckthorn) was widespread on late- and early postglacial raw soils throughout much of central and northern Europe, but that EarlyFossil pollen records indicate that Hippophaë rhamnoides (Sea Buckthorn) was widespread on late- and early postglacial raw soils throughout much of central and northern Europe, but that Early Holocene reforestation restricted populations to northern coastal habitats, or along mountain streams in the Alps, Pyrenees, and Carpathians. We used sequence variation at the nuclear chalcone synthase intron (Chsi), in conjunction with chloroplast DNA-restriction fragment length polymorphism data, to investigate the intraspecific phylogeny, phylogeographic structure, and expansion demographic history of this dioecious and wind-pollinated shrub at its range-wide scale in Europe and Asia Minor. Four major Chsi phylogroups of unresolved relationships were identified with estimated divergences approximately 172,000 years ago. Large-scale phylogeographic structures of nuclear and cytoplasmic markers were congruent in identifying (i) southeastern Europe as the most likely source of colonization into central Europe and Scandinavia, and (ii) the area just north of the Alps as a contact zone between populations from the Alps and the east/central European-Scandinavian lineage. Coalescence-based analyses (i.e. nested clade analysis and mismatch distributions) of Chsi variation were able to detect at least four major episodes of population growth, all within about the last 40,000 years. In particular, these analyses identified a nearly synchronized timing of population expansions in various parts of the species' range in central-eastern Europe/Asia Minor, most likely correlating with the Younger Dryas Stadial ( approximately 13,000-11,600 years ago). It remains to be established whether the phylogeographic history of H. rhamnoides, and particularly its rapid response to the rapid environmental changes of the Younger Dryas cold snap, is unique to the species, or whether it is shared with other cold-tolerant shrub (or grassland) species known from late-glacial raw soils in Europe.

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• Long-distance dispersal vs vicariance: the origin and genetic diversity of alpine plants in the Spanish Sierra Nevada.

  Authors: Matthias Kropf, Hans Peter Comes, Joachim W Kadereit

  The New phytologist. 02/2006; 172(1):169-84.

  Here, we investigated the origin and genetic diversity of four alpine plant species co-occurring in the Spanish Sierra Nevada and other high mountains in south-western Europe by analysis of amplifiedHere, we investigated the origin and genetic diversity of four alpine plant species co-occurring in the Spanish Sierra Nevada and other high mountains in south-western Europe by analysis of amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs). In Kernera saxatilis, Silene rupestris and Gentiana alpina we found intraspecific phylogroups corresponding to mountain regions as predicted by the vicariance hypothesis. Moreover, genetic distances between Sierra Nevada and Pyrenees populations were always higher than those between populations from the Pyrenees and the south-western Alps/Massif Central. This suggests successive disruption of gene exchange between mountain ranges as postglacial climatic warming proceeded from south to north. In Papaver alpinum, our data indicate that a central Pyrenean population arose via long-distance dispersal from the Sierra Nevada, and that vicariant separation events between the Sierra Nevada and the Pyrenees and between the Pyrenees and the south-western Alps occurred simultaneously. Overall, Sierra Nevada populations of all species investigated here preserve unexpectedly high (or not exceptionally reduced) genetic diversity. This testifies to the important influence of long-term isolation, i.e. vicariance, on genetic diversity through fostering the accumulation of new mutations and/or the fixation of ancestral ones.

• Quaternary diversification in European alpine plants: pattern and process.

  Authors: Joachim W Kadereit, Eva Maria Griebeler, Hans Peter Comes

  Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences. 03/2004; 359(1442):265-74.

  Molecular clock approaches applied previously to European alpine plants suggest that Primula sect. Auricula, Gentiana sect. Ciminalis and Soldanella diversified at the beginning of the Quaternary orMolecular clock approaches applied previously to European alpine plants suggest that Primula sect. Auricula, Gentiana sect. Ciminalis and Soldanella diversified at the beginning of the Quaternary or well within this period, whereas Globularia had already started diversifying in the (Late-)Tertiary. In the first part of this paper we present evidence that, in contrast to Globularia and Soldanella, the branching patterns of the molecular internal transcribed spacer phylogenies of both Primula and Gentiana are incompatible with a constant-rates birth-death model. In both of these last two taxa, speciation probably decreased through Quaternary times, perhaps because of some niche-filling process and/or a decrease in specific range size. In the second part, we apply nonlinear regression analyses to the lineage-through-time plots of P. sect. Auricula to test a range of capacity-dependent models of diversification, and the effect of Quaternary climatic oscillations on diversification and extinction. At least for one major clade of sect. Auricula there is firm evidence that both diversification and extinction are a function of temperature. Intriguingly, temperature appears to be correlated positively with extinction, but negatively with diversification. This suggests that diversification did not take place, as previously assumed, in geographical isolation in high-altitude interglacial refugia, but rather at low altitudes in geographically isolated glacial refugia.

• Differential cycles of range contraction and expansion in European high mountain plants during the Late Quaternary: insights from Pritzelago alpina (L.) O. Kuntze (Brassicaceae).

  Authors: Matthias Kropf, Joachim W Kadereit, Hans Peter Comes

  Molecular ecology. 05/2003; 12(4):931-49.

  Nuclear DNA sequence variation of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) were used to illuminate the evolutionary history of Pritzelago alpina, aNuclear DNA sequence variation of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) were used to illuminate the evolutionary history of Pritzelago alpina, a herbaceous perennial of (sub)alpine to nival habitats of the European high mountains. Maximum likelihood analysis of ITS sequences of P. alpina, Hornungia petraea and Hymenolobus procumbens (the 'Pritzelago alliance') resolved P. alpina and H. petraea as sister taxa. ITS divergence estimates support an origin for P. alpina in the Late Tertiary, while intraspecific diversification started in the Late Quaternary (0.4-0.9 million years ago). AFLP analysis of 76 individuals of P. alpina, representing 24 localities across its entire west-east distribution, identified four mountain lineages in Cantabria, the Pyrenees, (south-) western Alps, and northeastern Alps/Tatras/Carpathians. In an analysis of molecular variance (amova), 14.3% of the total variation derived from this separation. However, relationships among these lineages remained unresolved in neighbour-joining and principal co-ordinates analyses, suggesting a population history of near simultaneous vicariance. Comparison with our previous ITS/AFLP study of Anthyllis montana (Fabaceae) indicates that the two co-distributed but altitudinally differentiated plant species exhibit temporally concordant but spatially discordant patterns of genetic variation. Moreover, levels of AFLP divergence were significantly lower in P. alpina than in the submediterranean, lower-elevation A. montana. Together, these data are consistent with a 'displacement refugia model', which predicts that European mountain plant species associated with lower- and upper-elevation habitats had a different cycle of range contraction into (long-term) glacial and (short-term) interglacial refugia, respectively.

• Late Quaternary distributional stasis in the submediterranean mountain plant Anthyllis montana L. (Fabaceae) inferred from ITS sequences and amplified fragment length polymorphism markers.

  Authors: Matthias Kropf, Joachim W Kadereit, Hans Peter Comes

  Molecular ecology. 04/2002; 11(3):447-63.

  Anthyllis montana is a submediterranean, herbaceous plant of the southern and central European mountains. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of nuclear ribosomal DNA were sequenced fromAnthyllis montana is a submediterranean, herbaceous plant of the southern and central European mountains. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of nuclear ribosomal DNA were sequenced from multiple accessions of the species and several closely related taxa. In addition, amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) was analysed from 71 individuals of A. montana collected in 20 localities, mainly in the Pyrenees, Alps, Italian Peninsula and Balkans. Our ITS phylogeny showed a sequential branching pattern in A. montana, implying a western Mediterranean origin followed by an eastward migration. ITS clock calibrations suggest that speciation of A. montana took place at the Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary, while intraspecific divergence dates to Late Quaternary times (i.e. 0.7 million years ago). The AFLP analyses revealed a major genetic (west/east) subdivision within A. montana, probably caused by the massive glaciation of the Alps during this latter time period. The present-day absence of A. montana from vast parts of the Alps, which appear ecologically suitable for the species, together with the finding of evenly distributed AFLP variability within each of the two western and eastern lineages identified, is taken as evidence for a largely static Late Quaternary history without large-scale migration. High levels of AFLP variation observed among populations, together with weak or absent patterns of isolation by distance, seem to be in accord with long-term population insularization and distributional stasis. However, recent small-scale migration and a narrow hybrid zone between western and eastern lineages need to be postulated to explain the intermediate genetic composition of individuals from the Maritime Alps, a well-known suture-zone for other plant and animal species.

• Did glacials and/or interglacials promote allopatric incipient speciation in East Asian temperate plants? Phylogeographic and coalescent analyses on refugial isolation and divergence in Dysosmaversipellis

  Authors: Ying-Xiong Qiu, Bi-Cai Guan, Cheng-Xin Fu, Hans Peter Comes

  Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.

  To explore the evolutionary consequences of climate-induced fluctuations in presently fragmented temperate forest habitats in continental East Asia we investigated the phylogeography and demographicTo explore the evolutionary consequences of climate-induced fluctuations in presently fragmented temperate forest habitats in continental East Asia we investigated the phylogeography and demographic history of the temperate-deciduous forest endemic Dysosma versipellis from disjunct montane sites in Central-Southeast China. Based on a survey of chloroplast (cp) DNA sequence variation, our analyses show that this perennial herb consists of morphologically indistinguishable western and central/eastern cpDNA lineages. Coalescent analyses under the ‘isolation with migration’ (IM) model support an ancient (Mid-Pleistocene) divergence between these lineages, with the western lineage having persisted without significant population growth in a long-term refuge just east of the Tibetan (Qinghai-Xizang) Plateau. In contrast, for the central/eastern lineage, we found strong evidence for population expansion from a refuge located south of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and likely coinciding with the last or penultimate interglacial, followed by considerable population isolation and divergence in situ over (at least) the latest glacial–interglacial cycle. In line with recent evidence from palaeomodeling of East Asian forest biomes, our results suggest that the same vicariance factor, i.e. climate-induced eco-geographic isolation through (a)biotic displacement of temperate-deciduous forested habitats, promoted the divergence of D. versipellis lineages and populations at different spatial–temporal scales and over glacial and interglacial periods. Thus, there is no evidence that populations of D. versipellis merged at lower elevations during the last glacial(s). As such, D. versipellis accords with the premise that Late Quaternary refugial isolation is likely to have enhanced allopatric (incipient) species formation of temperate plants in East Asia.

• The effect of Quaternary climatic changes on plant distribution and evolution

  Authors: Hans Peter Comes, Joachim W Kadereit

  Trends in Plant Science.

  Climatic oscillations in the Quaternary have played a major role in changing the geographical distribution of plant species. Recent molecular work has provided new insights into the location ofClimatic oscillations in the Quaternary have played a major role in changing the geographical distribution of plant species. Recent molecular work has provided new insights into the location of glacial refugia and routes of postglacial expansion. A comparative analysis shows that phylogeographic patterns in Europe appear to be less congruent than in North America. The change of geographical distribution has also provided opportunities for speciation through isolation, and hybridization after secondary contact. However, a complete understanding of the significance of the Quaternary climatic changes for plant speciation requires further research into the estimation of reliable and accurate divergence times.