Evidence for multiple refugia at different time scales during Pleistocene climatic oscillations in southern Australia inferred from phylogeography

Phylogeography uses the spatial distribution of genealogical lineages to deduce the influence of historical processes on the evolution of species, and can be informative in regard to location of refugia during extreme climatic conditions. Southern Australia is an ancient landscape with generally low geological relief that was not glaciated but did experience significant climatic oscillations from warm wet conditions in interglacials to cool dry environments during glacial maxima. Phylogeographic patterns in many of the biota of southern Australia reveal evidence of geographically structured divergent lineages indicative of contraction to, and expansion from, major refugia. The time frame for this divergence corresponds with mid Pleistocene climatic oscillations that became more extreme with greater amplitude, and with increased aridity and the formation of sandy deserts. Within lineages there is high haplotype diversity that is generally locally distributed, often specific to populations. These patterns do not reveal specific locations of major refugia that have high diversity and acted as an origin for recent range expansion, as has been observed in Northern Hemisphere glaciated regions. Rather it appears there have been multiple localised refugia throughout the distributions of the species, allowing them to persist through multiple climatic cycles in heterogeneous environments. Phylogeographic patterns in southern Australia indicate that major biotic responses to climatic change involve persistence and resilience rather than large-scale migration, indicating the importance of dynamic evolutionary processes and a mosaic of habitats in heterogeneous landscapes for species to persist though changing environmental conditions.