Revaluation of the genetic diversity–area relationship by integrating nucleotide and haplotype diversity

Abstract

Understanding the genetic diversity–area relationship (GAR) is essential for comprehending how species adapt to environmental changes, as genetic diversity is an indicator of a species’ adaptive potential. Variation in environmental adaptation capacity exists among species and animal taxa with different distribution areas, highlighting the importance of understanding the GAR. To obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the GAR in terrestrial vertebrates, we assessed both haplotype diversity–area and nucleotide diversity–area relationships using 25,453 cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) sequences from 142 amphibian species, 574 bird species, and 342 mammal species. We found that both measures of genetic diversity increased with species range size across major animal groups. Nevertheless, the GAR did not differ among animal groups, while haplotype diversity performed better than nucleotide diversity in profiling the GAR, as indicated by higher R2 values. The difference in the modeling fit may stem from the distinct biological and mathematical significance of nucleotide diversity and haplotype diversity. These results suggest that the GAR follows similar rules among different animal taxa. Furthermore, haplotype diversity may serve as a more reliable indicator for assessing the potential effects of area size changes on animal populations and provide better guidance for conserving genetic diversity.