S. Elizabeth Alter

• PhD, Stanford University
• Professor (Assistant) at The Graduate Center, CUNY

Lamprologine cichlids include nearly 100 species from Lake Tanganyika, but only nine are known from the Congo River, including Lamprologus lethops, the only known blind cichlid. Little is known about its natural history. We characterized the complete mitochondrial genomes of L. lethops and seven related riverine species to infer evolutionary relati...

Understanding the drivers of diversification is a central goal in evolutionary biology but can be challenging when lineages radiate quickly and/or hybridize frequently. Cichlids in the tribe Lamprologini, an exceptionally diverse clade found in the Congo basin, exemplify these issues: their evolutionary history has been difficult to untangle with p...

Lamprologine cichlids are a diverse group of fishes distributed in Lake Tanganyika and the Congo River. Nine species of Lamprologus occur in the Congo River basin including the only blind cichlid Lamprologus lethops, but little is known about the natural history and evolution of this enigmatic species. To alleviate this knowledge gap, we characteri...

Gene loss is an important mechanism for evolution in low-light or cave environments where visual adaptations often involve a reduction or loss of eyesight. The plaat gene family encodes phospholipases essential for the degradation of organelles in the lens of the eye. These phospholipases translocate to damaged organelle membranes, inducing them to...

Climatic and geomorphological changes during the Quaternary period impacted global patterns of speciation and diversification across a wide range of taxa, but few studies have examined these effects on African riverine fishes. The lower Congo River is an excellent natural laboratory for understanding complex speciation and population diversificatio...

Freshwater fishes are notably diverse, given that freshwater habitat represents a tiny fraction of the earth's surface, but the mechanisms generating this diversity remain poorly understood. Rivers provide excellent models to understand how freshwater diversity is generated and maintained across heterogeneous habitats. In particular, the lower Cong...

Despite the cultural and economic importance of fisheries to communities in the region, the Mfimi is one of the least well-documented river systems in the central Congo basin. Here we present a preliminary listing of species collected during two surveys sampling 35 sites along the main channel, in major tributaries, and in some marginal habitats. A...

Rivers provide excellent models to understand how species diversity is generated and maintained across heterogeneous habitats. The lower Congo River (LCR) consists of a dynamic hydroscape exhibiting extraordinary aquatic biodiversity, endemicity, and ecological specialization. Previous studies have suggested that the numerous high-energy rapids thr...

More than 40 years ago in their compendium of fish diversity in the lower Congo River (LCR), T. R. Roberts and D. J. Stewart posed the question, “Why does the LCR harbor so many cichlids?” Here we seek an answer through a synthesis of the last 40+ years of research on cichlid diversity, ecology, and speciation. Our review suggests a key role for th...

Trait loss represents an intriguing evolutionary problem, particularly when it occurs across independent lineages. Fishes in light-poor environments often evolve "troglomorphic" traits, including reduction or loss of both pigment and eyes. Here we investigate the genomic basis of trait loss in a blind and depigmented African cichlid, Lamprologus le...

The Danakil Depression in northeastern Africa represents one of the harshest arid environments on Earth, yet two genera of fishes, Danakilia (Cichlidae) and Aphanius (Cyprinodontidae), share its sparse aquatic habitats. The evolutionary history of these fishes is investigated here in the context of genetic, geological and paleoenvironmental informa...

Table S1. Principal physical and chemical parameters of water sampled at different locations in the Danakil Depression. Table S2. Summary of evolutionary models applied to Danakilia and Aphanius for phylogenetic inference.

The lower Congo River (LCR) is a freshwater biodiversity hotspot in Africa characterized by some of the world's largest rapids. However, little is known about the evolutionary forces shaping this diversity, which include numerous endemic fishes. We investigated phylogeographic relationships in Teleogramma, a small clade of rheophilic cichlids, in t...

Background The lower Congo River (LCR) is a region of exceptional species diversity and endemism in the Congo basin, including numerous species of spiny eels (genus Mastacembelus ). Four of these exhibit distinctive phenotypes characterized by greatly reduced optic globes deeply embedded into the head (cryptophthalmia) and reduced (or absent) melan...

The panoply of microorganisms and other species present in our environment influence human health and disease, especially in cities, but have not been profiled with metagenomics at a city-wide scale. We sequenced DNA from surfaces across the entire New York City (NYC) subway system, the Gowanus Canal, and public parks. Nearly half of the DNA (48%)...

Afshinekoo et al respond to Ackelsberg et al.

The lower Congo River and nearby habitats harbor numerous endemic lineages of cichlid fishes, including some with highly specialized morphologies. based on morphological and molecular data, we herein describe a new species of Teleogramma, a member of the chromi-dotilapiine clade found on rocky outcrops in the lower reaches of the middle Congo River...

Arctic animals face dramatic habitat alteration due to ongoing climate change. Understanding how such species have responded to past glacial cycles can help us forecast their response to today's changing climate. Gray whales are among those marine species likely to be strongly affected by Arctic climate change, but a thorough analysis of past clima...

Accelerated loss of sea ice in the Arctic is opening routes connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans for longer periods each year. These changes will increase the ease and frequency with which marine birds and mammals are able to move between the Pacific and Atlantic ocean basins. Indeed, recent observations of birds and mammals suggest these mov...

Sea ice is believed to be a major factor shaping gene flow for polar marine organisms, but it remains unclear to what extent it represents a true barrier to dispersal for arctic cetaceans. Bowhead whales are highly adapted to polar sea ice and were targeted by commercial whalers throughout Arctic and subarctic seas for at least four centuries, resu...

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Commercial whaling decimated many whale populations, including the eastern Pacific gray whale, but little is known about how population dynamics or ecology differed prior to these removals. Of particular interest is the possibility of a large population decline prior to whaling, as such a decline could explain the ~5-fold difference between genetic...

While climate change is expected to affect cetaceans primarily via loss of habitat and changes in prey availability, additional consequences may result from climate-driven shifts in human behaviors and economic activities. For example, increases in shipping, oil and gas exploration and fishing due to the loss of Arctic sea ice are highly likely to...

Background/Question/Methods Concerns regarding the potential effects of climate change on marine megafauna largely have been focused on polar environments, where changes in ice coverage can dramatically affect habitat and prey availability. Less attention has been given to cetaceans and turtles in temperate and tropical waters even though climate c...

The rapidly evolving mitochondrial control region remains an important source of information on phylogeography and demographic history for cetaceans and other vertebrates, despite great uncertainty in the rate of nucleotide substitution across both nucleotide positions and lineages. Patterns of variation in linked markers with slower rates of evolu...

Concern over the collapse of many wild-caught fisheries has led to a recent focus on seafood-certification and consumer-driven support of sustainable seafood. However, such conservation strategies depend critically on the accurate labeling of seafood species in marketplaces. Pacific rockfish, a group of >60 species in the genus Sebastes, are often...

Ecosystem restoration may require returning threatened populations of ecologically pivotal species to near their former abundances, but it is often difficult to estimate historic population size of species that have been heavily exploited. Eastern Pacific gray whales play a key ecological role in their Arctic feeding grounds and are widely thought...

Global models project impending climate changes that could significantly alter plant species composition in ecosystems. Climate manipulation experiments provide an opportunity to investigate such effects. Here we describe and apply a method for extracting the age-detrended growth rate of sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) and show that experime...

Climate change is likely to affect the health and survival of cetaceans at multiple levels, including individual-level (primary) effects, and population-level (secondary) effects. Tertiary effects have been defined as impacts at the population or community level resulting from changes in human actions due to climate change. For example, climate cha...