BACKGROUND: Quaternary climate fluctuations are an engine of biotic diversification. Global cooling cycles, such as the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), are known to have fragmented the ranges of higher-latitude fauna and flora into smaller refugia, dramatically reducing species ranges. However, relatively less is known about the effects of cooling cycles on tropical biota. RESULTS: We analyzed thousands of genome-wide DNA markers across an assemblage of three closely related understorey-inhabiting scrubwrens (Sericornis and Aethomyias; Aves) from montane forest along an elevational gradient on Mt. Wilhelm, the highest mountain of Papua New Guinea. Despite species-specific differences in elevational preference, we found limited differentiation within each scrubwren species, but detected a strong genomic signature of simultaneous population expansions at 27-29 ka, coinciding with the onset of the LGM. CONCLUSION: The remarkable synchronous timing of population expansions of all three species demonstrates the importance of global cooling cycles in expanding highland habitat. Global cooling cycles have likely had strongly different impacts on tropical montane areas versus boreal and temperate latitudes, leading to population expansions in the former and serious fragmentation in the latter.

• MeSH
• biologická evoluce * MeSH
• databáze jako téma MeSH
• druhová specificita MeSH
• ekosystém * MeSH
• fylogeneze MeSH
• fylogeografie MeSH
• jednonukleotidový polymorfismus genetika   MeSH
• ledový příkrov * MeSH
• nadmořská výška MeSH
• počítačová simulace MeSH
• populační genetika MeSH
• pravděpodobnost MeSH
• sekvence nukleotidů MeSH
• zeměpis MeSH
• zpěvní ptáci růst a vývoj   MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Papua Nová Guinea MeSH