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（Pleistocene）避难所常被视作物种多样化的驱动因素，但针对姊妹物种间分子分化程度的比较研究通常显示，物种分化时间从中新世（Miocene）晚期便已呈现连续分布的特征，而非末次冰盛期（Last Glacial Maximum, LGM）存在一次明确的物种形成脉冲事件。能够明确检验多次隔离分化事件，并同时考量祖先有效种群大小与基因流差异的群落尺度推断方法，非常适于探测物种对古气候波动的响应异质性。我们将该分析方法应用于澳大利亚东北部湿热带雨林特有且同域分布的5个蛙类物种的多位点序列数据。研究结果表明，气候驱动的森林收缩至少引发了两期隔离分化事件：一期发生于更新世早期，另一期则年代更为久远。阐明雨林收缩与扩张的重复循环如何对同域分布物种种系分化产生差异化影响，可为解析种群分化与物种形成背后的进化过程提供理论框架。