# Complex niche divergence underlies lineage diversification in Oophaga poison frogs



## ryangreenway (Apr 30, 2010)

Complex niche divergence underlies lineage diversification in Oophaga poison frogs - Posso-Terranova - 2016 - Journal of Biogeography - Wiley Online Library

Awesome paper detailing the biogeography and patterns of speciation in Oophaga. A publicly available version should be uploaded to ResearchGate soon, and I will try to remember to update this post with it. 

"Oophaga frogs originated in Central America and reached South America after the closure of the Panama Isthmus. The South- and Central-American clades of this genus have convergently evolved to similar patterns of geographical distribution and niche occupancy. Within clades, sister taxa showed parapatric distributions replacing each other along elevational gradients as predicted by the models of divergence along continuous ecological gradients. Accordingly, we found strong shifts in climatic niches throughout the history of these two clades. However, the largest niche shifts seem to post-date the final elevation of the Talamanca and northern Andes. Overall, our data suggest that speciation along climatic gradients on a structured landscape has been a major evolutionary force behind the diversification of Oophaga poison frogs."


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