Data from: Did Late Pleistocene climate change result in parallel genetic structure and demographic bottlenecks in sympatric Central African crocodiles, Mecistops and Osteolaemus?

The mid-Holocene has had profound demographic impacts on wildlife on the
African continent, though there is little known about the impacts on
species from Central Africa. Understanding the impacts of climate change
on co-distributed species can enhance our understanding of ecosystem
dynamics and for formulating restoration objectives. We took a
multi-genome comparative approach to examine the phylogeographic structure
of two poorly known Central African crocodile species - Mecistops sp. aff.
cataphractus and Osteolaemus tetraspis. In addition, we conducted
coalescent-based demographic reconstructions to test the hypothesis that
population decline was driven by climate change since the Last Glacial
Maximum, versus more recent anthropogenic pressures. Using a hierarchical
Bayesian model to reconstruct demographic history, we show that both
species had dramatic declines (> 97%) in effective population size
in the period following the Last Glacial Maximum 1,500 – 18,000 YBP.
Identification of genetic structuring showed both species have similar
regional structure corresponding to major geological features (i.e.,
hydrologic basin), and that small observed differences between them are
best explained by the differences in their ecology and the likely impact
that climate change had on their habitat needs. Our results support our
hypothesis that climatic effects, presumably on forest and wetland
habitat, had a congruent negative impact on both species.