Abstract
Nelsonia is an extant genus of North American woodrats, in which most of the biological information remains unknown. Only N. neotomodon and N. goldmani are recognized inhabiting in similar temperate environments. Recently, a biogeographic hypothesis for the genus pointed out that Nelsonia after diverging from Repomys or Protorepomys in the Californian-Rocky Mountains in USA, the Mexican highlands in Mexico played a significant role in how the two species of Nelsonia became established in two different mountain ranges: N. neotomodon in the Sierra Madre Occidental and N. goldmani in the Transmexican Volcanic Belt. However, no other evidence exists about the biogeographic history of both species that improve the explanation about how past climate events affected their distribution, as well as whether the current environmental space occupied by both species are similar such as previous studies have argued. Therefore, this study aimed to characterize the environmental niche of both species, to test environmental differences, overlap, equivalence, and niche similarity, and lastly, to build their current niche model and paleodistribution for three past scenarios: Pliocene, Last Interglacial, and Last Glacial Maximum. The results revealed significant differences in niche centroid, low niche overlap, and no niche equivalence or similarity, suggesting niche divergence. The current niche suitability showed that the two species have small and restricted potential habitats highlighting the need to reevaluate the current international conservation category of N. neotomodon. The paleodistribution suggested that both species of Nelsonia have contractions and expansions of niche suitability in the past.
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All data generated and analyzed during this study are included in this published article, its supplementary material files, and are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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42991_2021_130_MOESM1_ESM.xlsx
Supplementary material 1: geographic information from published and museum specimens of Nelsonia neotomodon and N. goldmani used as occurrences for the environmental analyses. The museum acronyms are: American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), California Academy of Sciences (CAS), Colección de Mamíferos del Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Conservación (CMC), Canadian Museum of Nature (CMN), Colección Nacional de Mamíferos (CNMA), Colección de Mamíferos del Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigación para el Desarrollo Integral Regional, Unidad Durango (CRD), Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas IPN (ENCB), Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP), Museum of Natural History University of Kansas (KU), Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (LACM), Lousiana State University Museum of Zoology (LSUMZ), Michigan State University Museum (MSU), Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (MVZ), University of Arizona Museum of Natural History (UAZ), Florida Museum of Natural History (UFMNH), University of Michigan Museum of Zoology (UMMZ), and National Museum of Natural History (USNM).
42991_2021_130_MOESM2_ESM.tif
Supplementary information 2: multivariate environmental similarity surface (MESS; left) and most dissimilar variable (MoD; right) of three past scenarios projected. From top to bottom: Last Glacial Maximum (A and B), Last Interglacial (C and D), and Pliocene (E and F). Maps show the analog and non-analog areas, and the environmental conditions outside the rage in the calibration variables.
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León-Tapia, M.Á. Environmental niche differentiation and paleodistribution of the rare montane woodrats of the genus Nelsonia (Rodentia: Cricetidae). Mamm Biol 101, 521–530 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42991-021-00130-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42991-021-00130-5