title: Mountains too high and valleys too deep drive population structuring and demographics in a Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau frogNanorana pleskei(Dicroglossidae).
abstract: Pleistocene glacial-interglacial climatic oscillations greatly shaped the current genetic structure of many species. However, geographic features may influence the impact of climatic cycling. Distinct geographic and environmental characters between northern and southern parts of the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (EQTP) facilitate explorations into the impacts of geographic features on species. The northern parts of EQTP contain large areas of marsh, and the environment is rather homogeneous. In contrast, the southern EQTP harbors complex alpine valleys and a much more heterogeneous setting. We evaluate DNA sequence variation from both the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes inNanorana pleskei, a species endemic to the EQTP. Hypothesis testing on the evolutionary history ofN. pleskeiindicates that northern populations can disperse freely, but alpine valleys isolate southern populations. Demographic histories between northern and southern populations also differ. Northern populations appear to have experienced population expansions, while southern frogs exhibit a far more stable demographic history. By combining climatic analyses and species' distribution models, our study suggests that geographic and environmental features drive the differences between the northern and southern EQTP.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution Kunming Institute of Zoology Chinese Academy of Sciences Kunming China.
authors.forename: Weiwei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution Kunming Institute of Zoology Chinese Academy of Sciences Kunming China.
authors.forename: Jieqiong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences Ministry of Environmental Protection Nanjing China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution Kunming Institute of Zoology Chinese Academy of Sciences Kunming China.
authors.forename: Hongman
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution Kunming Institute of Zoology Chinese Academy of Sciences Kunming China; Kunming College of Life Science University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Kunming China.
authors.forename: Junxiao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution Kunming Institute of Zoology Chinese Academy of Sciences Kunming China; Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Biology Royal Ontario Museum Toronto ON Canada.
authors.forename: Robert W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution Kunming Institute of Zoology Chinese Academy of Sciences Kunming China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Che
keywords: Pleistocene climatic oscillations; amphibians; demographic history; eastern Qinghai–Tibetan plateau; population structure