Environmental change and evolutionary events - a molecular approach using comparative phylogeography among African bovids

Climatic variation may affect evolutionary patterns by altering rates of speciation and extinction through changing availablity of appropriate habitats. In the proposed project, we assess the relationship between environmental change and evolutionary even ts using comparative phylogeography among 10 bovid species distributed across sub-Saharan Africa. Congruence in phylogeographic patterns among species as well as among areas will be tested using species from three differerent ecological groups (savannah-a dapted specialists, forest-adapted specialists and generalist species that can cope with a range o f different habitats). If large-scale changes in the physical environment act as a major determinant of evolutionary events, we expect phylogeographic congr uence across species from the same ecological groups as well as across geographic regions. In addition to the main objective of the study, we address whether specialist species are more prone to climatic change as compared to generalist species, and wheth er specific geographic regions serve as centres of origin for a large proportion of the stu died species. We anticipate that the project will provide valuable empirical data on the relationship between environmental change and evolutionary events and cont ribute to the understanding of the underlying mechanisms associated with evolutionarychange , ultimately leading to speciation and extinction. change