Received: 21 December 2018 Revised: 30 July 2019 Accepted: 26 September 2019 DOI: 10.1002/aqc.3251 RESEARCH ARTICLE Reconstruction of the historical distribution ranges of imperilled stream fishes from a global endemic hotspot based on molecular data: Implications for conservation of threatened taxa Albert Chakona1 | Gavin Gouws1 | Wilbert T. Kadye2 | Martine S. Jordaan1,3,4 | Ernst R. Swartz1 1National Research Foundation – South African Institute for Aquatic Abstract Biodiversity, Grahamstown, South Africa 1. Understanding historical distribution patterns of freshwater fishes prior to human 2 Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries impacts is crucial for informing effective strategies for biodiversity conservation. Science, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa However, incomplete information on species occurrence records, the existence of 3CapeNature Scientific Services, Stellenbosch, cryptic species and sensitivity to small sample sizes limit the application of histori- South Africa cal records in natural history collections as well as conventional species distribu- 4Centre for Invasion Biology, CapeNature, Stellenbosch, South Africa tion modelling algorithms to infer past distributions of species. 2. This study used molecular data as an alternative and objective approach to recon- Correspondence Albert Chakona, National Research struct the historical distribution ranges of four stream fishes from the Breede – Foundation South African Institute for River system in the Cape Fold Ecoregion, a global hotspot of imperilled endemic Aquatic Biodiversity, Private Bag 1015. Grahamstown, South Africa. freshwater biodiversity in southern Africa. Email:
[email protected] 3. The study used 249 occurrence records and 208 mitochondrial cytochrome Funding information b sequences to reconstruct the potential historical ranges of four taxa: Galaxias International Foundation for Science; sp.