Impacts of the Toba eruption and montane forest expansion on diversification in Sumatran parachuting frogs (Rhacophorus)

Abstract

Catastrophic events, such as volcanic eruptions, can have profound impacts on the demographic histories of resident taxa. Due to its presumed effect on biodiversity, the Pleistocene eruption of super-volcano Toba has received abundant attention. We test the effects of the Toba eruption on the diversification, genetic diversity, and demography of three co-distributed species of parachuting frogs (Genus Rhacophorus) on Sumatra. We generate target-capture data ([~]950 loci and [~]440,000 bp) for three species of parachuting frogs and use these data paired with previously generated double digest restriction-site associated DNA (ddRADseq) data to estimate population structure and genetic diversity, to test for population size changes using demographic modelling, and to estimate the temporal clustering of size change events using a full-likelihood Bayesian method. We find that populations around Toba exhibit reduced genetic diversity compared with southern populations, and that northern populations exhibit a shift in effective population size around the time of the eruption ([~]80 kya). However, we infer a stronger signal of expansion in southern populations around [~]400 kya, and at least two of the northern populations may have also expanded at this time. Taken together, these findings suggest that the Toba eruption precipitated population declines in northern populations, but that the demographic history of these three species was also strongly impacted by mid-Pleistocene forest expansion during glacial periods. We propose local rather than regional effects of the Toba eruption, and emphasize the dynamic nature of diversification on the Sunda Shelf.