Data from: Comparative multi-locus phylogeography confirms multiple vicariance events in co-distributed rainforest frogs

Though Pleistocene refugia are frequently cited as drivers of species diversification, comparisons of molecular divergence among sister species typically indicate a continuum of divergence times from the late Miocene, rather than a clear pulse of speciation events at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Community-scale inference methods that explicitly test for multiple vicariance events, and account for differences in ancestral effective population size and gene flow, are well suited for detecting heterogeneity of species’ responses to past climate fluctuations. We apply this approach to multi-locus sequence data from five co-distributed frog species endemic to the Wet Tropics rainforests of Northeast Australia. Our results demonstrate at least two episodes of vicariance due to climate-driven forest contractions: one in the early Pleistocene and the other considerably older. Understanding how repeated cycles of rainforest contraction and expansion differentially affected lineage divergence among co-distributed species provides a framework for identifying evolutionary processes that underlie population divergence and speciation.尽管更新世避难所（Pleistocene refugia）常被视作物种多样化的核心驱动因素，但姊妹物种（sister species）间的分子分化比较研究通常显示，物种分化时间呈现从晚中新世（late Miocene）起始的连续谱系，而非末次冰盛期（Last Glacial Maximum, LGM）出现一次集中的物种形成脉冲。可明确检验多次隔离分化事件（vicariance events）、并考量祖先有效种群大小（ancestral effective population size）与基因流（gene flow）差异的群落水平推断方法（community-scale inference methods），非常适于检测物种对古气候波动（past climate fluctuations）响应的异质性（heterogeneity）。我们将该方法应用于采集自澳大利亚东北部热带湿润雨林特有、且同域分布的5种蛙类的多位点序列数据（multi-locus sequence data）。本研究的结果揭示了至少两次由气候驱动的森林收缩引发的隔离分化事件：一次发生在更新世早期（early Pleistocene），另一次则年代更为久远。明晰雨林收缩与扩张的反复循环如何对同域分布物种的谱系分化（lineage divergence）产生差异化影响，可为解析种群分化与物种形成的内在演化过程提供研究框架。