Repeated species radiations in the recent evolution of the key marine phytoplankton lineage Gephyrocapsa
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Open Access
- 17 September 2019
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Nature Communications
- Vol. 10 (1), 1-9
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12169-7
Abstract
Phytoplankton account for nearly half of global primary productivity and strongly affect the global carbon cycle, yet little is known about the forces that drive the evolution of these keystone microscopic organisms. Here we combine morphometric data from the fossil record of the ubiquitous coccolithophore genus Gephyrocapsa with genomic analyses of extant species to assess the genetic processes underlying Pleistocene palaeontological patterns. We demonstrate that all modern diversity in Gephyrocapsa (including Emiliania huxleyi) originated in a rapid species radiation during the last 0.6 Ma, coincident with the latest of the three pulses of Gephyrocapsa diversification and extinction documented in the fossil record. Our evolutionary genetic analyses indicate that new species in this genus have formed in sympatry or parapatry, with occasional hybridisation between species. This sheds light on the mode of speciation during evolutionary radiation of marine phytoplankton and provides a model of how new plankton species form.Keywords
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