How to fail at species delimitation.
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TLDR
Researchers should apply a wide range of species delimitation analyses to their data and place their trust in delimitations that are congruent across methods, for in most contexts it is better to fail to delimit species than it is to falsely delimit entities that do not represent actual evolutionary lineages.Abstract:
Species delimitation is the act of identifying species-level biological diversity. In recent years, the field has witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of methods available for delimiting species. However, most recent investigations only utilize a handful (i.e. 2–3) of the available methods, often for unstated reasons. Because the parameter space that is potentially relevant to species delimitation far exceeds the parameterization of any existing method, a given method necessarily makes a number of simplifying assumptions, any one of which could be violated in a particular system. We suggest that researchers should apply a wide range of species delimitation analyses to their data and place their trust in delimitations that are congruent across methods. Incongruence across the results from different methods is evidence of either a difference in the power to detect cryptic lineages across one or more of the approaches used to delimit species and could indicate that assumptions of one or more of the methods have been violated. In either case, the inferences drawn from species delimitation studies should be conservative, for in most contexts it is better to fail to delimit species than it is to falsely delimit entities that do not represent actual evolutionary lineages.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Convergence of multiple markers and analysis methods defines the genetic distinctiveness of cryptic pitvipers.
Mrinalini,Roger S. Thorpe,Simon Creer,Delphine Lallias,Louise Dawnay,Bryan L. Stuart,Anita Malhotra +6 more
TL;DR: This study uses AFLPs and mtDNA to investigate cryptic speciation in the Trimeresurus macrops complex that belongs to a taxonomically difficult lineage of Asian pitvipers and provides evidence for reproductive isolation and genetic distinctiveness that define these taxa as full species.
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Species delimitation with distinct methods based on molecular data to elucidate species boundaries in the Cycas taiwaniana complex (Cycadaceae)
TL;DR: This study optimally resolved the species boundaries and taxonomic treatment of the C. taiwaniana complex from an integrated perspective using multiple sources of molecular data and distinct analytical approaches.
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The effects of contemporary selection and dispersal limitation on the community assembly of acidophilic microalgae
Chia-Jung Hsieh,Shing Hei Zhan,Chen-Pan Liao,Sen-Lin Tang,Liang-Chi Wang,Tsuyoshi Watanabe,Paul John L. Geraldino,Shao-Lun Liu +7 more
TL;DR: This work performs the first large‐scale survey of microalgal diversity in acidic geothermal sites across the West Pacific Island Chain and reveals that dispersal limitation has a greater influence on the community assembly of microalgae than contemporary selection.
Journal ArticleDOI
Molecules and morphology reveal 'new' widespread North American freshwater mussel species (Bivalvia: Unionidae).
TL;DR: Results from morphometric and molecular phylogenetic analyses unanimously indicate that L. teres sensu lato is made up of two divergent, widespread species with overlapping distributions, and highlights the lack of understanding of species diversity of freshwater mussels and the importance of multiple characters and quantitative approaches to species delimitation.
Journal ArticleDOI
Updated checklist and DNA barcode-based species delimitations reveal taxonomic uncertainties among freshwater fishes from the mid-north-eastern Caatinga ecoregion, north-eastern Brazil.
Waldir M. Berbel-Filho,Telton Pedro Anselmo Ramos,Uedson Pereira Jacobina,Uedson Pereira Jacobina,Danielle J. G. Maia,Rodrigo A. Torres,Sergio M. Q. Lima +6 more
TL;DR: This study provides the most up-to-date species checklist for the MNCE and a molecular reference database for identifying MNCE fishes with DNA barcodes and highlights the need to integrate traditional taxonomy with molecular approaches to correctly identify species, especially in taxonomically problematic ecoregions such as theMNCE.
References
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