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The Role of History in the Diversification of the Funnel-Web

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The Role of History in the Diversification of the Funnel-Web University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 12-2004 The Role of History in the Diversification of the unnel-webF Spiders, Agelenopsis Aperta, and its Congeners Nadia Antoine Ayoub University of Tennessee, Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons Recommended Citation Ayoub, Nadia Antoine, "The Role of History in the Diversification of the unnel-webF Spiders, Agelenopsis Aperta, and its Congeners. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2004. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/1885 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Nadia Antoine Ayoub entitled "The Role of History in the Diversification of the unnel-webF Spiders, Agelenopsis Aperta, and its Congeners." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Susan E. Riechert, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Christine R. Boake, Gary F. McCracken, Randall L. Small Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Nadia Antoine Ayoub entitled "The role of history in the diversification of the funnel-web spiders, Agelenopsis aperta, and its congeners." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Susan E. Riechert_________________ Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Christine R. Boake____________________ Gary F. McCracken ___________________ Randall L. Small ______________________ Accepted for the Council: Anne Mayhew_______________________ Vice Chancellor and Dean of Graduate Studies (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) The role of history in the diversification of the funnel-web spiders, Agelenopsis aperta, and its congeners. A Dissertation Presented for The Doctor of Philosophy Degree University of Tennessee, Knoxville Nadia Antoine Ayoub December 2004 Acknowledgements Numerous people helped to make my dissertation work possible. The guidance of my advisor, Susan Riechert, was essential; she introduced me to the genus Agelenopsis and her years of work on A. aperta set an ideal background to the work presented here. I am grateful to each of my committee members: Gary McCracken for allowing me to use lab space, Randall Small for an introduction to phylogenetics (and continual advice in this and other arenas), and Christine Boake for always being available to give advice in many aspects of graduate life. My fellow graduate students kindly let me bounce ideas off them for the last five years. I am grateful to the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology for monetary support in the form of a graduate teaching assistantship and summer research grants. Funding for stipend and research also came from an NSF graduate fellowship. Finally I want to thank all of my family for years of support (many more than spent in graduate school) and my husband, Charles Winder, for always believing in me even when I didn’t believe in myself. ii Abstract Identifying the influence of history on the diversity of life is an important goal of evolutionary biology, whether it is an historical event that is extrinsic to the organism such as past climate change or an intrinsic event such as a single switch in behavior. Phylogenetic trees offer an indirect record of the history of diversification in a group of organisms and can be used in conjunction with other information to deduce the multiple roles of history affecting a particular group. Intra- and inter-specific phylogenetic relationships in the spider genus Agelenopsis Geibel (Araneae: Agelenidae) were analyzed using sequence data from two mitochondrial genes, cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and 16S ribosomal RNA for 12 out of 13 described species as well as a potential new species. These data were used to address a number of questions regarding biogeography, speciation, and evolution of habitat-use. Concerning biogeography, patterns and levels of sequence variation were consistent with the hypothesis that Pleistocene climate change affected geographic distribution and evolutionary diversification patterns within A. aperta. Speciation patterns were uncovered regarding species monophyly, geography of speciation, and the rejection of a putative hybrid species. Finally, a potential interaction of history and natural selection was identified when looking at the evolution of habitat use within and among Agelenopsis species. It was found that riparian living arose once in the genus with a single switch to arid living. Subsequently, three species of Agelenopsis displayed multiple switches back to riparian living. The findings of this dissertation point to a iii multitude of evolutionary questions that should be addressed and suitability of Agelenopsis as a model system in evolutionary biology. iv Table of Contents Part Page Introduction................................................................................................................1 Literature Cited .........................................................................................................5 I. Molecular evidence for Pleistocene glacial cycles driving diversification of a North American desert spider, Agelenopsis aperta. .......6 Abstract ............................................................................................................8 Introduction ......................................................................................................9 Methods.......................................................................................................... 13 Study System ............................................................................................... 13 Collections................................................................................................... 14 DNA Extraction and Sequencing.................................................................. 15 Phylogenetic and Network Analyses ............................................................ 16 Network analysis....................................................................................... 18 Genetic Diversity, Population Equilibrium, and Selective Neutrality............ 19 Results............................................................................................................ 20 Sequence Characteristics.............................................................................. 20 Phylogenetic and Network Analyses ............................................................ 21 Phylogenetic analyses ............................................................................... 21 Network analysis....................................................................................... 22 AMOVA................................................................................................... 22 Genetic Diversity and Population Equilibrium ............................................. 23 Discussion ...................................................................................................... 24 Effects of Pleistocene Climate Change versus Mountain Building on A. aperta................................................................................... 24 Effects of Pleistocene Climate Change versus Mountain Building on other Southwestern North American Taxa ............................................... 28 Conclusions ................................................................................................. 31 Literature Cited............................................................................................... 32 Acknowledgements......................................................................................... 40 Appendix ........................................................................................................ 41 II. Speciation history of the North American funnel web spiders, Agelenopsis (Araneae: Agelenidae): Phylogenetic inferences at the population-species interface. ........................................................................ 50 Abstract .......................................................................................................... 52 Introduction .................................................................................................... 53 Methods.......................................................................................................... 55 Sampling...................................................................................................... 55 DNA Extraction and Sequencing.................................................................
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