Journal article

Plio-Pleistocene sea-level changes drive speciation of freshwater fishes in north-western Australia

James J Shelley, Stephen E Swearer, Tim Dempster, Mark Adams, Matthew C Le Feuvre, Michael P Hammer, Peter J Unmack

JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY | WILEY | Published : 2020

Abstract

AIM: Despite the influence of sea‐level changes on biogeographic/phylogeographic patterns in freshwater ecosystems being well documented, studies that explicitly link the influence of sea‐level change with speciation are rare. We aim to test the hypothesis that sea‐level changes during the Pliocene and Pleistocene have driven speciation in north‐western Australia's (NWA’s) largest freshwater fish family, Terapontidae, building upon a body of evolutionary literature focussed on the family. LOCATION: North‐western Australian rivers including those draining the Kimberley Plateau. TAXON: Grunters (Family: Terapontidae, Genera: Hannia, Hephaestus, Leiopotherapon, Syncomistes). METHODS: A GIS was ..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Funding Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the funding contributions for this project from the Hermon Slade Foundation, the Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment, the Winifred Violet Scott Charitable Trust and the Nature Conservancy (Australian Conservation Taxonomy Award).