Asynchronous phylogeographic and demographic dynamics of rodent community in the low latitude Asia

Abstract It is increasing evident that demographic history and phylogeographic consequences of past climate changes were unfolded locally and varied from region to region. Despite the high Murinae rodent species richness and endemism in the low latitude Asia, how the past climatic fluctuations shaped the phylogeographic and demographic history in this area remains unknown. Here we trapped 253 field Murine individuals and successfully amplified COI gene sequence for DNA barcoding. The phylogenetic tree showed the Murinae diversification included ten species belong to Rattini and Murini tribes. The divergence dating suggested that the most common ancestor (TMRCA) of each rodent species was estimated in Early or Middle Pleistocene. Bayesian skyline plot (BSP) exhibited the onset of population growth of seven Murinae rodents occurred at penultimate or last glaciation, and while R. losea and R. norvegicus keep effective population size constant through their elapsed time. Additionally, the six rodent species range of refugia area in the LGM projected by ecological niche models (ENMs) exhibited expander than the suitable area on present, meanwhile the remaining four rodent species showed contracted refugia regions. Hence, our results suggested that the rodent community displayed the asynchronous demographic and phylogeographic dynamics in the low latitude Asia.