title: Recent range-wide demographic expansion in a Taiwan endemic montane bird, Steere's Liocichla (Liocichla steerii).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The subtropical island of Taiwan is an area of high endemism and a complex topographic environment. Phylogeographic studies indicate that vicariance caused by Taiwan's mountains has subdivided many taxa into genetic phylogroups. We used mitochondrial DNA sequences and nuclear microsatellites to test whether the evolutionary history of an endemic montane bird, Steere's Liocichla (Liocichla steerii), fit the general vicariant paradigm for a montane organism.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that while mountains appear to channel gene flow they are not a significant barrier for Steere's Liocichla. Recent demographic expansion was evident, and genetic diversity was relatively high across the island, suggesting expansion from multiple areas rather than a few isolated refugia. Ecological niche modeling corroborated the molecular results and suggested that populations of Steere's Liocichla are connected by climatically suitable habitat and that there was less suitable habitat during the Last Glacial Maximum.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Genetic and ecological niche modeling data corroborate a single history--Steere's Liocichla was at lower density during the Last Glacial Maximum and has subsequently expanded in population density. We suggest that such a range-wide density expansion might be an overlooked cause for the genetic patterns of demographic expansion that are regularly reported. We find significant differences among some populations in FST indices and an admixture analysis. Though both of these results are often used to suggest conservation action, we affirm that statistically significant results are not necessarily biologically meaningful and we urge caution when interpreting highly polymorphic data such as microsatellites.
authors.affiliation: Bell Museum of Natural History, University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN 55108, USA. mckay117@umn.edu
authors.forename: Bailey D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: McKay
authors.forename: Herman L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Mays
authors.forename: Yi-Wen
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Kenneth H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Kozak
authors.forename: Cheng-Te
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: Hsiao-Wei
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Pei-Fen
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Fu-Hsiung
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Hsu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D046109:Passeriformes / Q000235:genetics*; D013624:Taiwan
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial