Lecture 13 Zoogeography

1.  Background

2.  Continental drift and Glaciations

3.  Zoogeographic areas

4.  Methods / Tests

 Lecture 13 Zoogeography

•  Geographic distribution of animals past and

present

•  The challenge is to discern patterns among

current distributions of taxa and how these
patterns relate to their evolutionary history

•  We will look at how and why different fishes

got to where they are today
Zoogeography Alfred Russel Wallace
(1823-1913)
- father of biogeography

20 April 1854 (arrived in Singapore) - 1 April 1862

The Malay Archipelago
Wallace’s line
 Wallace’s line

Wallace was the first to realize that

distribution of related species is
fundamentally linked to geologic history
of places the species inhabit
The Formation of Zoogeographic Regions

Two main hypotheses:

•  Dispersal

•  Vicariance
 DISPERSAL

1. Start with
Island one continuous
population.
Then, a colonist
floats to an
island on a raft.

Continent

2. Finish with
two populations
isolated from
one another.
 VICARIANCE

1. Start with
one continuous
River population.
Then a chance
event occurs
that changes
the landscape
(river changes
course).

River 2. Finish with

changes two populations
course isolated from
one another.
Continental Drift
 Continental Drift

•  Current arrangement of continents creates

barriers among marine species

•  Can separate populations of freshwater

fishes
Continental Drift
Continental Drift
Glaciation
 Glaciation

•  Glaciations result in lower sea levels, which

changes the dynamics of currents and
ultimately gene flow

•  Temperate fishes were massively displaced

by glaciation
•  retreating glaciers left behind postglacial
lakes
Glaciation

120m below current sea level

Glaciation
 Glaciation

Esocidae (pikes and muskie)

 Glaciation

Parrotfishes
(Scaridae)

speciation
events
coincide with
sea level lows
 Marine Zoogeographic Regions

Four major zones

1.  Indo-West Pacific

2.  Western Atlantic

3.  Eastern Pacific

4.  Eastern Atlantic

 Marine Zoogeographic Regions
Indo-West Pacific

•  ~3000 spp.

Contains coral triangle

 Marine Zoogeographic Regions
Indo-West Pacific
coral triangle

•  global maxima of marine biodiversity

•  ~500 spp of reef building coral (10x the amount in the
western Atlantic)
•  number of taxa decrease as one proceeds eastward
across Pacific plate
Marine Zoogeographic Regions
Indo-West Pacific
Marine Zoogeographic Regions
Western Atlantic

•  ~1200 spp.
Marine Zoogeographic Regions
Western Atlantic
 Marine Zoogeographic Regions
Western Atlantic

Amazon river divides coral reef fish fauna into northern

and southern parts by freshwater outflow

Bottom trawls underneath the outflow reveal coral reef

species assemblage but with sponges

Genetic analyzes reveal there is some connectivity

between the North and the South…
Marine Zoogeographic Regions
Western Atlantic
 Marine Zoogeographic Regions
Western Atlantic

Three species of surgeonfishes in the genus A. bahianus

Acanthurus were sampled throughout the Western
Atlantic basin
•  genetic connectivity was estimated

The amazon outflow effected geneflow in each

species uniquely
•  strong barrier in A. bahianus A. coeruleus

•  modest barrier A. coeruleus

•  no effect in A. chiurgus
A. chirurgus
Marine Zoogeographic Regions
Eastern Pacific
 Marine Zoogeographic Regions
Eastern Pacific

•  Related to and only recently separated from the

western Atlantic around 3 mybp
•  fewer spp of fishes and corals

•  Geminate species

•  The eastern Pacific barrier acts as a distance barrier

•  limits 86% of reef species from central Pacific
Eastern Pacific Barrier
Holacanthus Distribution

Geminate Spp.?

Alva-Campbell et al 2
 Holacanthus RADseq Phylogeny
geminate sister clades 1/100 HTR_CABR_020601

H. tricolor
HTR_PAN_050704

HBE_MKF_080701
1/99
1/100 H. bermudensis
TWA
HBE_MKF_110701
1/100

HCI_CABR_020601
1/100
H. ciliaris
HCI_MKF_080701

1/100

1/97
HCL_APA_050701
H. clarionensis
HLI_CLI_041001

1/100 HLI_CLI_041002
H. limbaughi TEP
1/100
HPA_MUE_061202

H. passer
1/98 HPA_MUE_061201

HAF_CVE_0999289 H. africanus
0.9

9.0 8.0 7.0 6.0 5.0 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 0.0

Mya
Vicariance or dispersal? Tariel, Longo, & Bernardi 2016
 Marine Zoogeographic Regions
Eastern Atlantic & Mediterranean
 Marine Zoogeographic Regions
Eastern Atlantic & Mediterranean

•  Sparse coral cover in the tropical Gulf

of Guinea

•  Depauperate in spp (~ 600)

•  After completion of Suez Canal,

Lessepsian migrants have begun to
invade the Mediterranean
After completion of Suez
Canal, Lessepsian migrants
have begun to invade the
Mediterranean