Exploring the role of climatic niche changes in the evolution of the southern South American genus Baripus (Coleoptera: Carabidae) by means of optimization of non-hereditary climatic variables enabled by phylogenetic signal measurement

AGRAIN, FEDERICO; DOMÍNGUEZ, M. CECILIA; CARRARA, RODOLFO; GRIOTTI, MARIANA; ROIG-JUÑENT, SERGIO A.

CLADISTICS (PRINT)

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2021

0748-3007

The genus Baripus is a ground beetle genus endemic to southern South America, currently distributed across grassland and shrub habitats in mountain and lowland regions. The species of this genus are known to have been affected by the Andes orogeny and the climate changes that occurred during this process. In this study, we seek to understand how the orogeny of the Andes may have led to changes in the climatic niches of the species of Baripus over time. In an attempt to integrate former ecological and historical biogeographic hypotheses, we explored the use of parsimony optimization of phylogenetically structured climate variables and ancestral state reconstruction methods. We then performed regression analyses of the optimized climatic niche variables within the phylogenetic tree of Baripus. We were able to infer significant climatic niche constraints, and niche changes that provide new insights to the existing knowledge, supporting former ecological and biogeographic hypotheses for this genus. Such trends in climatic niche could be explained by the rain shadow effect caused by the Andes uplift as well as with other climate shifts associated with temperature and precipitation swings that occurred in this region from the Middle Miocene to the Pliocene.