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Research
Cite this article: Frantz LAF et al. 2018
Synchronous diversification of Sulawesi’s iconic
artiodactyls driven by recent geological events.
Proc. R. Soc. B 285: 20172566.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.2566
Received: 30 November 2017
Accepted: 16 March 2018
Subject Category:
Evolution
Synchronous diversification of Sulawesi’s
iconic artiodactyls driven by recent
geological events
Laurent A. F. Frantz1,2,†, Anna Rudzinski3,†,
Abang Mansyursyah Surya Nugraha4,},†, Allowen Evin5,6,†, James Burton7,8,†,
Ardern Hulme-Beaman2,6, Anna Linderholm2,9, Ross Barnett2,10,
Rodrigo Vega11, Evan K. Irving-Pease2, James Haile2,10, Richard Allen2,
Kristin Leus12,13, Jill Shephard14,15, Mia Hillyer14,16, Sarah Gillemot14,
Jeroen van den Hurk14, Sharron Ogle17, Cristina Atofanei11, Mark G. Thomas3,
Friederike Johansson18, Abdul Haris Mustari19, John Williams20,
Kusdiantoro Mohamad21, Chandramaya Siska Damayanti21,
Ita Djuwita Wiryadik, Dagmar Obbles22, Stephano Mona23,24, Hally Day25,
Muhammad Yasin25, Stefan Meker26, Jimmy A. McGuire27, Ben J. Evans28,
Thomas von Rintelen29, Simon Y. W. Ho30, Jeremy B. Searle31,
Andrew C. Kitchener32,33, Alastair A. Macdonald7,‡, Darren J. Shaw7,‡,
Robert Hall4,‡, Peter Galbusera14,‡ and Greger Larson2,‡
1
Subject Areas:
genetics, evolution
Keywords:
biogeography, evolution, geology, Wallacea
Authors for correspondence:
Laurent A. F. Frantz
e-mail:
[email protected]
Greger Larson
e-mail:
[email protected]
†
Contributed equally to this study.
Present address: Pertamina University, Jl.
Teuku Nyak Arief, Kawasan Simprug,
Kebayoran Lama, Jakarta Selatan 12220,
Indonesia.
k
Deceased.
‡
Co-supervised the study.
}
School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK
The Palaeogenomics & Bio-Archaeology Research Network, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and History of
Art, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK
3
Research Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
4
SE Asia Research Group, Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham,
Surrey TW20 0EX, UK
5
Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, EPHE, Place Eugène Bataillon,
34095 Montpellier, Cedex 05, France
6
Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool, 12-14 Abercromby Square,
Liverpool L69 7WZ, UK
7
Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies & The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush Campus,
Roslin, Edinburgh EH25 9RG, UK
8
IUCN SSC Asian Wild Cattle Specialist Group and Chester Zoo, Cedar House, Caughall Road, Upton by Chester,
Chester CH2 1LH, UK
9
Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4352, USA
10
Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, 1350 Copenhagen K,
Denmark
11
Ecology Research Group, Section of Life Sciences, School of Human and Life Sciences, Canterbury Christ Church
University, North Holmes Road, Canterbury CT1 1QU, Kent, UK
12
Copenhagen Zoo, IUCN SSC Conservation Breeding Specialist Group—Europe, Roskildevej 38, Postboks 7,
2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark
13
European Association of Zoos and Aquaria, PO Box 20164, 1000 HD Amsterdam, The Netherlands
14
Centre for Research and Conservation (CRC), Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp, Koningin Astridplein 20-26,
2018 Antwerp, Belgium
15
Environment and Conservation Sciences, School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, Perth,
Western Australia 6150, Australia
16
Molecular Systematics Unit/Terrestrial Zoology, Western Australian Museum, Welshpool, Western Australia,
Australia
17
Edinburgh Medical School: BMTO, University of Edinburgh, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, UK
18
Gothenburg Natural History Museum, Box 7283, 402 35 Gothenburg, Sweden
19
Department of Forest Resources Conservation and Ecotourism, Faculty of Forestry, Bogor Agricultural
University, PO Box 168, Bogor 16001, Indonesia
2
Electronic supplementary material is available
online at https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.
figshare.c.4040687.
& 2018 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original
author and source are credited.
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20
The high degree of endemism on Sulawesi has previously
been suggested to have vicariant origins, dating back
to 40 Ma. Recent studies, however, suggest that much of
Sulawesi’s fauna assembled over the last 15 Myr. Here, we
test the hypothesis that more recent uplift of previously
submerged portions of land on Sulawesi promoted diversification and that much of its faunal assemblage is much
younger than the island itself. To do so, we combined palaeogeographical reconstructions with genetic and morphometric
datasets derived from Sulawesi’s three largest mammals: the
babirusa, anoa and Sulawesi warty pig. Our results indicate
that although these species most likely colonized the area
that is now Sulawesi at different times (14 Ma to 2–3 Ma),
they experienced an almost synchronous expansion from
the central part of the island. Geological reconstructions
indicate that this area was above sea level for most of the
last 4 Myr, unlike most parts of the island. We conclude
that emergence of land on Sulawesi (approx. 1–2 Myr) may
have allowed species to expand synchronously. Altogether,
our results indicate that the establishment of the highly endemic faunal assemblage on Sulawesi was driven by geological
events over the last few million years.
1. Introduction
Alfred Russel Wallace was the first to document the ‘anomalous’ biogeographic region in Island Southeast Asia (ISEA)
now known as Wallacea [1,2]. This biodiversity hotspot [3] is
bounded by Wallace’s Line in the west and Lydekker’s Line
in the east [4]. It consists of numerous islands in the Indonesian
Archipelago, all of which boast a high degree of endemism. For
example, on Sulawesi, the largest island in the region, at least
61 of the 63 non-volant mammalian species are endemic [5]
and this figure is likely to be an underestimate.
2
Proc. R. Soc. B 285: 20172566
LAFF, 0000-0001-8030-3885; AE, 0000-0003-4515-1649;
AH-B, 0000-0001-8130-9648; DJS, 0000-0003-2016-1541;
GL, 0000-0002-4092-0392
The geological origins of Wallacea are as complex as its biogeography. Until recently, Sulawesi had been regarded as the
product of multiple collisions of continental fragments from
the Late Cretaceous [6–9]. This assumption has been challenged and a recent reinterpretation suggests instead that the
island began to form as the result of continental collisions
during the Cretaceous, which were then followed by Eocene
rifting of the Makassar Strait. This process led to the isolation
of small land areas in western Sulawesi from Sundaland. In
the Early Miocene (approx. 23 Ma), a collision between the
Sula Spur (a promontory of the Australian continent) and
north Sulawesi led to uplift and emergence of land [10–12].
Later tectonic movements led to the present-day configuration
of islands between Borneo and Australia [13,14].
A previous interpretation, involving the assembly of multiple terranes by collision, was used to suggest that Sulawesi’s
peculiar species richness resulted from vicariance and amalgamation over long geological time periods [10,15,16]. However,
recent molecular-clock analyses suggest that a dispersal, starting in the Middle Miocene (approx. 15 Ma) from both Sunda
and Sahul, is a more plausible explanation [17–19]. These conclusions suggest a limited potential for animal dispersal to
Sulawesi prior to approximately 15 Ma. Rapid tectonic changes,
coupled with the dramatic sea-level fluctuations over the past
5 Myr [20] might also have affected land availability and influenced patterns of species dispersal to Sulawesi, intra-island
species expansion and speciation.
The hypothesis of a recent increase in land area [19] can
be tested by comparing the population histories of multiple
species on the island. Analyses of genetic and morphometric
variability can be used to infer the timing and trajectories of
dispersal, and the geographical and temporal origins of
expansion. For example, if land area had increased from a
single smaller island, extant species now living on Sulawesi
would all have expanded from the same area. In addition,
under this assumption, within the same geographical
region their respective diversifications would be expected to
have been roughly simultaneous.
Here, we focus on three large mammals endemic to
Sulawesi: the babirusa (Babyrousa spp.), the Sulawesi warty
pig (SWP, Sus celebensis) and the anoa, a dwarf buffalo (Bubalus
spp.). The babirusa is a suid characterized by wrinkled skin
and two extraordinary curved upper canine tusks displayed
by males [21–23]. It represents a ‘ghost lineage’, because
there are no closely related extant species outside Sulawesi
(e.g. African suids are more closely related to all other Asian
suids than to the babirusa) and the babirusa is unknown in
the fossil record outside Sulawesi [24]. Three extant species
of babirusa (distributed primarily in the interior of Sulawesi
and on surrounding islands [21–23] have been described:
Babyrousa babyrussa (Buru and Sulu Islands), Babyrousa celebensis (mainland Sulawesi) and Babyrousa togeanensis (Togian
Island) [25].
The anoa is an endemic ‘miniature buffalo’ related to
indigenous bovids in the Philippines and East Asia [26,27].
It stands approximately 1 m tall, weighs 150–200 kg and
mostly inhabits pristine rainforest [28]. Although the subgenus
Anoa has been divided into two species, the lowland anoa
(Bubalus depressicornis) and the highland anoa (Bubalus
quarlesi) [29], this classification is still contentious [27]. In contrast with anoa and babirusa, the SWP occupies a wide range
of habitats, from swamps to rainforests. This species is closely
related to the Eurasian wild pig (Sus scrofa), from which it
rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org
Davies Research Centre, School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of
Sciences, University of Adelaide, Roseworthy, Southern Australia 5371, Australia
21
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Bogor Agricultural University, Jalan Agatis,
IPB Campus, Darmaga, Bogor 16680, Indonesia
22
Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, KU Leuven, Ch.
Deberiotstraat 32, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
23
Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité, ISYEB - UMR 7205 - CNRS, MNHN,
UPMC, EPHE, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, 16 rue Buffon, CP39, 75005 Paris,
France
24
EPHE, PSL Research University, Paris, France
25
No affiliation
26
Department of Zoology, State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, Rosenstein 1,
70191 Stuttgart, Germany
27
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Department of Integrative Biology, University of
California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
28
Department of Biology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
29
Museum für Naturkunde - Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science,
Berlin, Germany
30
School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South
Wales 2006, Australia
31
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Corson Hall,
Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
32
Department of Natural Sciences, Chambers Street, National Museums Scotland,
Edinburgh EH1 1JF, UK
33
Institute of Geography, School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh,
Drummond Street, Edinburgh EH8 9XP, UK
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(a) Contemporaneous divergence
We generated mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences and/or
microsatellite data from 230 SWPs, 155 anoas and 213 babirusa
sampled across Sulawesi and the neighbouring islands (electronic supplementary material, figure S1 and table S1). Using
a molecular-clock analysis, we inferred the time to the most
recent common ancestor (TMRCA) of each species. The estimates from this method represent coalescence times, which
provide a reflection of the crown age of each taxon. The closer
relationship between babirusa and SWP (approx. 13 Ma) [34],
compared with the divergence of either species from the anoa
(approx. 58 Ma) [35] allowed us to align sequences from babirusa and SWP alongside one another, and jointly infer their
relative TMRCAs. Separate analyses were performed for the
anoa. The inferred TMRCA of SWP was 2.19 Myr (95%
credibility interval (CI) 1.19–3.41 Myr; electronic supplementary material, figure S2) and of babirusa was 2.49 Myr
(95% CI 1.33–3.61 Myr) (figure 1; electronic supplementary
material, figure S2). The inferred TMRCA of anoa was younger
(1.06 Myr; figure 1; electronic supplementary material,
figure S3), though its 95% CI (0.81–1.96 Myr) overlapped
substantially with the TMRCAs of the other two species.
The relatively recent divergence between babirusa and
SWP also allowed us to compare their TMRCAs using identical
microsatellite loci. To do so, we computed the average square
distance (ASD) [36,37] between every pair of individuals
scaled posterior density
babirusa
0.75
Sulawesi warty pig
0.50
0.25
0
0
2
4
time in million years
6
Figure 1. Time to the most recent common ancestor (TMRCA) for three
mammal species on Sulawesi. Posterior densities of the TMRCA estimates for
anoa, babirusa and Sulawesi warty pig.
within each species at the same 13 microsatellite loci. Although
such an analysis might be affected by population structure (see
below), we found that the distributions of ASD values were not
significantly different between these two species (Wilcoxon
signed-rank test, p ¼ 0.492). This is consistent with the mitochondrial evidence for the nearly identical TMRCAs in the
two species.
Recent molecular analyses have indicated that babirusa may
have colonized Wallacea as early as 13 Ma, whereas SWP and
anoas appear to have only colonized Sulawesi within the last
2–4 Myr [17,30,32,34]. An early dispersal of babirusa to Sulawesi (Late Palaeogene) has also been suggested on the basis
of palaeontological evidence [19]. In addition, our data corroborate previous studies in indicating that both SWP and babirusa
are monophyletic with respect to their most closely related taxa
on neighbouring islands (e.g. Borneo), which is consistent with
only one colonization of Sulawesi (electronic supplementary
material, figure S4–S6) [30].
We then examined whether patterns of morphological
diversity in these taxa are consistent with the molecular
date estimates. To do so, we obtained measurements of 356
second and third lower molars (M2 and M3) from 95 babirusa
and 132 SWPs. SWP and babirusa do not overlap morphologically (figure 2a), and we were thus able to assign each specimen
to its correct species with success rates of 94.3% (CI: 92.7%–
95.5%, distribution of leave-one-out cross validation of a discriminant analysis based on a balanced sample design) [38]
and 94.7% (CI: 93.8%–96.7%) based on their M2 and M3,
respectively. Our results also indicate that babirusa did not
accumulate more tooth shape variation within Sulawesi
(Fligner–Killeen test x 2 ¼ 1.04, p ¼ 0.3 for M2, x 2 ¼ 3.45, p ¼
0.06 for M3). The data instead suggest that SWP has greater
variance in the size of its M3 (x 2 ¼ 4.52, p ¼ 0.03, but not in
the size of the M2, x 2 ¼ 3.44, p ¼ 0.06), and that the population
from west central Sulawesi has an overall smaller tooth size
than the two populations from northwest and northeast Sulawesi (figure 2b; electronic supplementary material, table S2).
While these results may result from different selective constraints, they indicate that babirusa did not accumulate
greater morphological variation in tooth shape than did the
SWP, despite arriving on Sulawesi up to 10 Myr earlier.
Altogether our analyses suggest that although the three
species are believed to have colonized the island at different
Proc. R. Soc. B 285: 20172566
2. Results and discussion
3
anoa
1.00
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diverged during the Early Pleistocene (approx. 2 Ma) [24,30].
The SWP has been found on numerous islands throughout
ISEA, probably as the result of human-mediated dispersal
[31]. As its name implies, male SWPs develop facial warts.
These cultural icons (e.g. SWP/babirusa and anoa are represented in the oldest prehistoric cave paintings [32,33]) have
undergone recent and significant population reduction and
range contraction due to overhunting and conversion of
natural habitat for agricultural use.
Here, we establish when Sulawesi gained its modern
shape and size, including connectivity between its constituent
peninsulae, and assessed the impact of island formation on the
evolution of Sulawesi’s biodiversity. To do so, we used new
reconstructions of the island’s palaeogeography that allowed
us to interpret the distribution of land and sea over the last
8 Myr at 1 Myr intervals. To determine the timings of diversification of the three largest endemic mammals on the island,
we generated and analysed genetic and/or morphometric
data from a total of 1289 samples of the SWP, anoa and babirusa obtained from museums, zoos and wild populations (456,
520 and 313 samples, respectively; electronic supplementary
material, table S1). More specifically, we measured a total of
356 teeth from 227 specimens (357 babirusa and 191 SWP)
using a geometric morphometric approach. In addition, we
sequenced mitochondrial loci (cytb and/or control region)
from 142 anoas, 213 babirusa and 230 SWP. Lastly, we typed
13 microsatellite loci from 163 anoa, 14 loci from 238 SWP
and 13 from 182 babirusa (see the electronic supplementary
material for more information). Although these taxa have
been divided into multiple species (see taxonomic notes in
the electronic supplementary material), for the purpose of
this study, we treated SWP, anoa and babirusa as single
taxonomic units.
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(b)
Bab.Sula Buru
0
babirusa
Sulawesi warty pig
2.00
−5
1.95
−10
−5
0
5
axis 1−37.2%
Bab.west central
Sus.Banggai
Bab.northeast
1.90
1.85
1.80
Bab.Togian
Banggai
northeast
northwest
west central
Togian
Sula Buru
northeast
west central
Sus.northeast
northwest
1.75
Figure 2. Population morphological variation inferred from geometric morphometric data. (a) Neighbour-joining network based on Mahalanobis distances measured
from second and third lower molar shapes and visualization of population mean shape. Bab, babirusa; Sus, Sulawesi warty pig. (b) Variation of third molar size per
population (log centroid size).
topography-bathymetry
>2000 m
>1000 m
0–1000 m
lake
shelf <200 m
deep 200–4000 m
oceanic >4000 m
(a)
Pleistocene (1 Ma)
Pleistocene (2 Ma)
Pliocene (4 Ma)
terrestrial
marginal marine
inner neritic
outer neritic
deep marine
basic igneous
intermediate igneous
acid-intermediate igneous
acid igneous
metamorphic
(c)
(b)
–0.63 –0.56 –0.49 –0.42 –0.35 –0.28 –0.21 –0.14 –0.07
correlation coefficient
0
(d)
–0.7185 –0.7005 –0.6825 –0.6645 –0.6465 –0.6285 –0.6105 –0.5925 –0.5745 –0.5560
correlation coefficient
–0.7926 –0.7842 –0.7758 –0.7674 –0.7590 –0.7506 –0.7422 –0.7338 –0.7254 –0.7170
correlation coefficient
Figure 3. Geological maps of Sulawesi and the geographical origin of expansion. (a) Reconstruction of Sulawesi over the last 5 Myr (adapted from [39]) and
potential origin of expansion of (b) anoa, (c) babirusa and (d ) SWP. Red dots represent the location of the samples used for this analysis. Low correlation
values (between distance and extrapolated genetic diversity; see electronic supplementary material) represent most likely origin of expansion.
times, their similar degrees of morphological diversity and their
nearly synchronous TMRCAs raise the possibility that they (and
possibly other species) responded to a common mechanism that
triggered their contemporaneous diversification.
(b) Past land availability correlates with the expansion
origins
Increasing land area may have promoted a simultaneous diversification and range expansion in babirusa, SWPs and anoas. To
test this hypothesis, we used a new reconstruction that depicts
land area in the Sulawesi region through time using information
from the geological record. The reconstructions in 1 Myr increments (figure 3a; electronic supplementary material, figure S7)
[39] support a scenario in which most of Sulawesi was submerged until the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene (2–3 Ma).
Large-scale uplifts over the last 2–3 Myr would have rapidly
and significantly increased land area, making it possible for
non-volant species to expand their ranges.
To further assess whether these Plio-Pleistocene uplifts were
responsible for a synchronous expansion, we inferred the most
likely geographical origin of expansion using microsatellite
Proc. R. Soc. B 285: 20172566
Bab.northwest
Sus.northwest
Sus.west central
4
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axis 2−23.57%
5
log (centroid size)
(a)
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(a) (i)
NE (n = 6)
NW (n = 26)
(ii)
Clades (mtDNA)
TO (n = 0)
NE (n = 19)
NW (n = 12)
Clades (mtDNA)
TO (n = 10)
BA (n = 8)
SU (n = 0)
EC (n = 25)
BU (n = 10)
BU (n = 0)
BU (n = 2)
SE (n = 16)
SE (n = 12)
SE (n = 25)
BT (n = 0)
BT (n = 30)
BT (n = 16)
SW (n = 0)
SW (n = 0)
SW (n = 12)
NE (n=6)
NW (n = 27)
ancestral K (µsat)
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
NC (n = 2)
TO (n = 0)
(ii)
NE (n = 16)
NW (n = 11)
TO (n = 10)
BA (n = 0)
ancestral K (µsat)
B1
B2
B3
B4
B5
B6
NC (n = 0)
WC (n = 22)
0.009
(iii)
NE (n = 11)
NW (n = 41)
TO (n = 1)
BA (n = 7)
BA (n = 0)
SU (n = 0)
SU (n = 0)
SU (n = 0)
EC (n = 10)
EC (n = 24)
EC (n = 1)
BU (n = 0)
BU (n = 1)
BU (n = 4)
SE (n = 15)
SE (n = 37)
SE (n = 14)
BT (n = 38)
BT (n = 12)
BT (n = 0)
SW (n = 0)
ancestral K (µsat)
S1
S2
S3
S4
S5
NC (n = 4)
WC (n = 47)
SW (n = 12)
Figure 4. Population structure and geographical patterning of three mammal species on Sulawesi inferred from mitochondrial and microsatellite DNA. (a) A tessellated projection of sample haplogroups in each region of endemism and phylogeny of (i) anoa, (ii) babirusa and (iii) Sulawesi warty pig. Each region is labelled
with the number of samples used for the projection. The projection extends over regions with no samples (e.g. the southwest peninsula for babirusa and anoa) and
the population membership affinities for these regions are, therefore, unreliable. Red and blue stars on the phylogenetic trees correspond to posterior probabilities
greater than 0.9 and 0.7, respectively. (b) Tessellated projection of the STRUCTURE analysis, using the microsatellite data, for (i) anoa, (ii) babirusa and (iii) Sulawesi
warty pig. The best K-value for each species was used (K ¼ 5 for anoa; K ¼ 6 for babirusa; K ¼ 5 for Sulawesi warty pig; electronic supplementary material, figure
S8). NE, northeast; NC, north central; NW, northwest; TO, Togian; BA, Banggai Archipelago; EC, east central; WC, west central; SU, Sula; BU, Buru; SE, southeast; SW,
southwest; BT, Buton.
data under a model of spatial loss of diversity with distance
from expansion origin (electronic supplementary material).
These estimates were obtained independently of, and uninformed by, either the geological reconstructions or modern
phylogeographical boundaries inferred from other species.
We deduced that the most likely origin for both SWP and babirusa was in the east central region of Sulawesi (figure 3c,d), and
the most likely origin of anoa was in the west central region
(figure 3b).
The origins of the population expansions of both SWP and
babirusa occurred in an area of Sulawesi that only emerged
during the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene (figure 3a; electronic supplementary material, figure S7). On the other hand,
the anoa’s most likely origin of diversification lies in a region
that was submerged until the Pleistocene, consistent with
palaeontological evidence [32] and with the slightly more
recent TMRCA inferred for this species (figure 1). Thus, for
all three species, the inferred geographical origins of their
range expansions match the land availability derived from
our geological reconstruction of Sulawesi.
(c) Geological history of past land isolation correlates
with zones of endemism
Previous studies have identified endemic zones that are
common to macaques, toads [18,40], tarsiers [41–44] and
lizards [45]. We tested whether the same areas of endemism
are linked to the population structure in our three species by
generating a phylogenetic tree for each species using mtDNA
and defined five to six haplogroups per species based on
well-supported clades (figure 4a– c; electronic supplementary
material, figure S4 –6). We found that haplogroup proportions were significantly different between previously
defined areas of endemism in all three species (Pearson’s
x2-test; p , 0.001), suggesting population substructure.
We also used STRUCTURE [46] to infer population
structure from microsatellite data. The optimum numbers of
populations (K) were 5, 6 and 5 for anoa, babirusa and SWP,
respectively (electronic supplementary material, figure S8;
figure 4b). Plotting the proportion of membership of each
sample onto a map revealed a strong correspondence with
the previously described zones of endemism (figure 4b).
Using an analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA), we found
that these areas of endemism explained approximately 17%,
27% and 5% of the variance in allele frequencies in anoa, babirusa and SWP, respectively (electronic supplementary material,
table S5). Populations of babirusa and SWP in these zones of
endemism were also strongly morphologically differentiated
(figure 2).
Altogether, these data and analyses indicate that, despite
some differences, the zones of endemism identified in tarsiers, macaques, toads and lizards [18,40–45,47] are largely
consistent with the population structure and morphological
differentiation in the three species studied here. This is particularly striking for the north arm of Sulawesi (NW, NC
and NE in figure 4), where we identify two highly differentiated populations (reflected in both mtDNA and nuclear
datasets) in all three taxa. This pattern could result from
either adaptation to local environments or from isolation
due to the particular geological history associated with the
northern arm. Geological reconstructions (figure 3a) indicate
that although land was present in this region during the past
Proc. R. Soc. B 285: 20172566
0.004
0.0125
SW (n = 0)
TO (n = 1)
EC (n = 3)
EC (n = 4)
5
Clades (mtDNA)
S1
S2
S3
S4
S5
NC (n = 3)
SU (n = 0)
SU (n = 0)
WC (n = 33)
NE (n = 28)
NW (n = 30)
WC (n = 39)
BA (n = 0)
BA (n = 0)
(b) (i)
(iii)
B1
B2
B3
B4
B5
B6
NC (n = 0)
WC (n = 24)
rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
NC (n = 2)
WC (n = 29)
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Similar isolation is likely to have influenced the populations
inhabiting the smaller islands adjacent to Sulawesi, including
the Banggai Archipelago, Buru, Togian and Sula Islands.
Interestingly, our geometric morphometric analyses demonstrated that these island populations of SWP and babirusa
are the most morphologically divergent (figure 2a). For
example, the insular populations from the Togian Islands
(babirusa) and the Banggai Archipelago (SWP) were found
to have much smaller tooth sizes than their counterparts on
the mainland (figure 2b).
The significant morphometric divergences between populations on various islands are consistent with the genetic
differentiation between babirusa/SWP on Togian, Sula and
Buru (figure 4; electronic supplementary material, figure S9
and figure S10) and between island populations of SWP on
Banggai Archipelago, Buton and Buru (figure 4; electronic
supplementary material, figure S9 and figure S10).
Together, these results show that while suture zones
between tectonic fragments are consistent with genetic and
morphometric differentiation within Sulawesi, isolation on
remote islands is likely to have had a much greater effect on
morphological distinctiveness. Rapid evolution on islands
has been described in many species (e.g. [48]), including in
pigs [49] where island populations are known to have smaller
tooth sizes than their mainland counterparts [50,51].
(e) Demographic history
Isolation of subpopulations across Sulawesi might also be
linked to recent anthropogenic disturbances, especially for
anoa and babirusa that occupy pristine forest or swamps
[21,28]. In order to assess the impact of recent anthropogenic
changes on the three species, we inferred their demographic history using approximate Bayesian computation (ABC). We fitted
various demographic models to the genetic data (combining
both mtDNA and microsatellite data; electronic supplementary material; figure S11). The best-supported demographic
model involved a long-term expansion followed by a recent bottleneck in all three species (electronic supplementary material,
table S3), corroborating the results of recent analyses of the
SWP genome [30].
While our ABC analysis had insufficient power to retrieve
the time of expansion (electronic supplementary material,
table S4), it provided relatively narrow estimates of the current
effective population sizes (figure 5; electronic supplementary
material, table S4). We inferred a larger effective population
size in SWP (83 021; 95% CI 46 287–161 457) than in babirusa
(30 895; 95% CI 17 522–54 954) or anoa (27 504; 95% CI 13
680–54 056). Sulawesi warty pig occupies a wide range of habitats, including agricultural areas [52]. Thus, this species is likely
to be less affected by continuing deforestation than babirusa or
posterior density
2
1
0
3.0
3.5
4.0
4.5
5.0
log10 (current population size)
5.5
Figure 5. Posterior distribution of the current population size (Ne) of each
species as inferred via ABC.
anoa, which is typically restricted to less disturbed forest and
swamps [21,26]. Phylogenetic analyses of microsatellite data
indicate more geographical structuring in babirusa and anoa
than in SWP (electronic supplementary material, figure S12
and table S5). Altogether, these results are consistent with
species-specific responses to habitat loss.
3. Conclusion
Our results indicate that, while the different geological components of Sulawesi were assembled at about 23 Ma, the
island only acquired its distinctive modern form in the last
few million years. By 3 Ma there was a large single island at
its modern centre, but the complete connection between the
arms was established more recently. The increasing land area
associated with Plio-Pleistocene tectonic activity is likely to
have provided the opportunity for a synchronous expansion
in the three endemic mammal species in this study, as well as
numerous other species. Interestingly, both our Pleistocene geological reconstruction and our proposed origins of expansion in
the centre of the island closely resemble maps inferred from a
study of tarsier species distribution on Sulawesi [42].
Furthermore, the recent emergence of connections between
Sulawesi’s arms coincides with a faunal turnover on the island
and the extinction of multiple species. The geological reconstruction, and in particular, the recent elimination of the
marine barrier at the Tempe depression separating the southwest and central regions, fits well with suggested replacement
in tarsier species that occurred in the last approximately 1
million years [41]. The dispersal of our three species from the
central region of Sulawesi may therefore have played a role in
other local extinctions, such as the extinct suid known from
southwest Sulawesi, Celebochoerus.
Sulawesi’s development by emergence and coalescence of
islands had a significant impact on the population structure
and intraspecific morphological differentiation of Sulawesi’s
three largest mammals and many other endemic taxa. Thus,
while most of Sulawesi’s extant fauna arrived relatively
recently, the more ancient geological history of the island (collision of multiple fragments) might have also affected patterns
of endemism. Many aspects of Sulawesi’s interconnected natural and geological histories remain unresolved. Integrative
approaches that combine biological and geological datasets
are therefore essential for reconstructing a comprehensive
evolutionary history of Wallace’s most anomalous island.
Data accessibility. All datasets, including microsatellites, mitochondrial, morphometric and meta data, are available on Dryad (http://
Proc. R. Soc. B 285: 20172566
(d) Recent and contemporary land isolation also
affected morphological evolution including
dwarfism
6
babirusa
anoa
Sulawesi warty pig
3
rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org
4 Myr, it was often isolated from the rest of Sulawesi until the
mid-Pleistocene. Thus, the combined geological and biological evidence presented here indicate that the high degree of
divergence observed in the northern-arm populations in a
multitude of species (e.g. three ungulates, macaques and tarsiers) might have been shaped by isolation from the rest of
the island until the last 1 million years (figure 3a).
Downloaded from http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/ on April 11, 2018
dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.dv322) [53]. The mitochondrial data are
also available on GeneBank (accession MH021990– MH022712).
G.L. conceived the study. L.A.F.F. and G.L. wrote the paper with
input from all authors. L.A.F.F., S.Y.W.H., A.R., A.M.S.N., A.E., J.B.,
A.H-B., A.L., G.L., P.G., D.J.S. and E.K.I.-P. analysed the data. All
other authors provided samples, data and analytical tools.
Competing interests. The authors have no competing interests.
Acknowledgements. We thank Joshua Schraiber and Erik Meijaard for
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valuable comments. We also thank the National Museums of Scotland for logistic support, and the Negaunee Foundation for their
continued support of a curatorial preparator. We are also indebted
to the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry, Jakarta (PHKA), Sulawesi’s
Provincial Forestry Departments (BKSDA); the Indonesian Institute
of Science (LIPI); Museum of Zoology, Research Center for Biology,
Cibinong (LIPI); and the project’s long-standing Indonesian sponsor,
Ir. Harayanto MS, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) for sample
collection/permission.
European
Research
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grant
(ERC-2013-StG-337574UNDEAD) and Natural Environmental Research Council grants
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Junior Research Fellowship (Wolfson College, University of Oxford)
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University of Edinburgh Development Trust, the Roslin Institute,
the Balloch Trust and the Stichting Dierentuin Helpen (Consortium
of Dutch Zoos). Additional support was also provided by the Rufford Small Grant, Royal Geographical Society, London, the Royal
Zoological Society of Scotland and the University of Edinburgh
Birrell-Gray Travel Award.
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