Australian spiny mountain crayfish and their temnocephalan ectosymbionts: an ancient association on the edge of coextinction?

Cuthill, Jennifer F. Hoyal, Sewell, Kim B., Cannon, Lester R.G., Charleston, Michael A., Lawler, Susan, Littlewood, D. Timothy J., Olson, Peter D., and Blair, David (2016) Australian spiny mountain crayfish and their temnocephalan ectosymbionts: an ancient association on the edge of coextinction? Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B, Biological Sciences, 283 (1831). 20160585. pp. 1-10.

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Abstract

Australian spiny mountain crayfish (Euastacus, Parastacidae) and their ecotosymbiotic temnocephalan flatworms (Temnocephalida, Platyhelminthes) may have co-occurred and interacted through deep time, during a period of major environmental change. Therefore, reconstructing the history of their association is of evolutionary, ecological, and conservation significance. Here, time-calibrated Bayesian phylogenies of Euastacus species and their temnocephalans (Temnohaswellia and Temnosewellia) indicate near-synchronous diversifications from the Cretaceous. Statistically significant cophylogeny correlations between associated clades suggest linked evolutionary histories. However, there is a stronger signal of codivergence and greater host specificity in Temnosewellia, which co-occurs with Euastacus across its range. Phylogeography and analyses of evolutionary distinctiveness (ED) suggest that regional differences in the impact of climate warming and drying had major effects both on crayfish and associated temnocephalans. In particular, Euastacus and Temnosewellia show strong latitudinal gradients in ED and, conversely, in geographical range size, with the most distinctive, northern lineages facing the greatest risk of extinction. Therefore, environmental change has, in some cases, strengthened ecological and evolutionary associations, leaving host-specific temnocephalans vulnerable to coextinction with endangered hosts. Consequently, the extinction of all Euastacus species currently endangered (75%) predicts coextinction of approximately 60% of the studied temnocephalans, with greatest loss of the most evolutionarily distinctive lineages.

Item ID: 45510
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1471-2954
Keywords: invertebrates, phylogenetics, cophylogeny, symbionts, parasites, climate change, conservation
Additional Information:

Electronic supplementary material is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.0585

Funders: Australian Research Council (ARC), Templeton World Charity Foundation (TWCF), John Templeton Foundation
Projects and Grants: ARC grant no. DP0209237, ARC grant no. DP1094891 (M.A.C. and J.F.H.C.), TWCF grant no. LBAG/143
Research Data: http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.3q7bh
Date Deposited: 20 Jul 2016 07:38
FoR Codes: 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3104 Evolutionary biology > 310402 Biogeography and phylogeography @ 75%
41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4101 Climate change impacts and adaptation > 410199 Climate change impacts and adaptation not elsewhere classified @ 25%
SEO Codes: 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9603 Climate and Climate Change > 960303 Climate Change Models @ 50%
97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970106 Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences @ 50%
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