Abstract
We use analyses of phylogeographic population structure across a suite of 12 mammalian, avian, amphibian, and reptilian species and species-groups to assess the role of Late Miocene to Pleistocene geological history in the evolution of a distinct Baja California Peninsular Desert biota. Comparative examination of phylogroup distributions provides support for previously hypothesized vicariant events produced by: a middle Pleistocene midpeninsular seaway, a late Pliocene northward transgression of the Sea of Cortéz, and a Pliocene seaway across the southern peninsular Isthmus of La Paz. Most of this phylogeographic architecture is cryptically embedded within widespread taxonomic species and species-groups, such that the unique evolutionary history of the Peninsular Desert has been obscured and ignored. The Peninsular Desert can no longer be considered a subset of the Sonoran Desert-it is a separate regional desert with its own unique evolutionary history, ecological arena, and conservation value.
Publication types
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Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
MeSH terms
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Amphibians / classification
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Amphibians / genetics*
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Animals
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Base Sequence
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Birds / classification
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Birds / genetics*
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California
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DNA, Complementary
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DNA, Mitochondrial / analysis
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DNA, Mitochondrial / classification
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Demography
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Evolution, Molecular*
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Fossils
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Mexico
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Molecular Sequence Data
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Phylogeny
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Reptiles / classification
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Reptiles / genetics*
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Rodentia / classification
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Rodentia / genetics*
Substances
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DNA, Complementary
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DNA, Mitochondrial
Associated data
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GENBANK/AY009173
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GENBANK/AY009174
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GENBANK/AY009175
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