Glacial survival east and west of the ‘Mekong–Salween Divide’ in the Himalaya–Hengduan Mountains region as revealed by AFLPs and cpDNA sequence variation in Sinopodophyllum hexandrum (Berberidaceae)

Molecular phylogeographic studies have recently begun to elucidate how plant species from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) and adjacent regions responded to the Quaternary climatic oscillations. In this regard, however, far less attention has been paid to the southern and south-eastern declivities of the QTP, i.e. the Himalaya–Hengduan Mountains (HHM) region. Here, we report a survey of amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) and chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) sequence variation in the HHM endemic Sinopodophyllum hexandrum, a highly selfing alpine perennial herb with mainly gravity-dispersed berries (105 individuals, 19 localities). We specifically aimed to test a vicariant evolutionary hypothesis across the ‘Mekong–Salween Divide’, a known biogeographic and phytogeographic boundary of north-to-south trending river valleys separating the East Himalayas and Hengduan Mts. Both cpDNA and AFLPs identified two divergent phylogroups largely congruent with these mountain ranges. There was no genetic depauperation in the more strongly glaciated East Himalayas (AFLPs: HE = 0.031; cpDNA: hS = 0.133) compared to the mainly ice-free Hengduan Mts. (AFLPs: HE = 0.037; cpDNA: hS = 0.082), while population differentiation was consistently higher in the former region (AFLPs: ΦST = 0.522 vs. 0.312; cpDNA: ΦST = 0.785 vs. 0.417). Our results suggest that East Himalayan and Hengduan populations of S. hexandrum were once fragmented, persisted in situ during glacials in both areas, and have not merged again, except for a major instance of inter-lineage chloroplast capture identified at the MSD boundary. Our coalescent time estimate for all cpDNA haplotypes (c. 0.37–0.48 mya), together with paleogeological evidence, strongly rejects paleo-drainage formation as a mechanism underlying allopatric fragmentation, whereas mountain glaciers following the ridges of the MSD during glacials (and possible interglacials) could have been responsible. This study thus indicates an important role for mountain glaciers in driving (incipient) allopatric speciation across the MSD in the HHM region by causing vicariant lineage divergence and acting as barriers to post-divergence gene flow.

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► The ‘Mekong-Salween Divide’ (MSD) separates the Himalayas and Hengduan Mountains.
► Molecular data indicate glacial survival of an alpine herb east and west of the MSD.
► Divergence time estimates reject paleo-drainage formation as a vicariant factor.
► Instead, mountain glaciers along the ridges of the MSD likely had a two-fold role.
► They caused vicariant divergence and acted as barriers to post-divergence gene flow.