A review of marine phylogeography in southern Africa
Date
2011
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Academy of Science of South Africa
Abstract
The southern African marine realm is located at the transition zone between the Atlantic
and Indo-Pacific biomes. Its biodiversity is particularly rich and comprises faunal and floral
elements from the two major oceanic regions, as well as a large number of endemics. Within this
realm, strikingly different biota occur in close geographic proximity to each other, and many
of the species with distributions spanning two or more of the region’s marine biogeographic
provinces are divided into evolutionary units that can often only be distinguished on the
basis of genetic data. In this review, we describe the state of marine phylogeography in
southern Africa, that is, the study of evolutionary relationships at the species level, or amongst
closely related species, in relation to the region’s marine environment. We focus particularly
on coastal phylogeography, where much progress has recently been made in identifying
phylogeographic breaks and explaining how they originated and are maintained. We also
highlight numerous shortcomings that should be addressed in the near future. These include:
the limited data available for commercially important organisms, particularly offshore species;
the paucity of oceanographic data for nearshore areas; a dearth of studies based on multilocus
data; and the fact that studying the role of diversifying selection in speciation has been limited
to physiological approaches to the exclusion of genetics. It is becoming apparent that the
southern African marine realm is one of the world’s most interesting environments in which
to study the evolutionary processes that shape not only regional, but also global patterns of
marine biodiversity.
Description
CITATION: Teske, P. R., Von der Heyden, S., McQuiad, C. D. & Barker, N. P. 2011. A review of marine phylogeography in southern Africa. South African Journal of Science, 107(5/6), Art.#514, doi:10.4102/sajs.v107i5/6.514.
The original publication is available at http://www.sajs.co.za
The original publication is available at http://www.sajs.co.za
Keywords
Marine biodiversity -- Southern Africa, Marine phylogeography -- Southern Africa, Marine environment -- Southern Africa
Citation
Teske, P. R., Von der Heyden, S., McQuiad, C. D. & Barker, N. P. 2011. A review of marine phylogeography in southern Africa. South African Journal of Science, 107(5/6), Art.#514, doi:10.4102/sajs.v107i5/6.514.