[Taxacom] Long-distance oceanic dispersal (rafting) of Nothofagus species
Kenneth Kinman
kinman at hotmail.com
Sun Jun 3 19:11:45 CDT 2018
Hi Barry,
The colonization of the mammals of Madagascar from the adjacent African mainland is widely regarded as dispersal by rafting. There is no evidence of a land bridge (which would have also allowed in larger mammals anyway). The ancestors of the mammals of Madagsscar were all small. This seems more likely than them swimming across the Mozambique Channel. But not all small mammals in adjacent Africa ended up in Madagascar, it was just those which by "chance" caught a ride on a raft of vegetation. In the case of the two species of Nothofagus, they would have actually been the main constituents of the raft itself. John attacks evidence that they crossed to New Zealand relatively late (ca. 30 million years ago), but I think he is in denial. At such a late date, it had to be dispersal of the seeds, fruits, or whole trees. I suppose dispersal of seeds by birds is a possibility, but that would not explain how their fungal symbionts got there. Therefore, I prefer to concentrate on finding evidence supporting the rafting hypothesis.
-------------Ken
________________________________
From: Barry OConnor <bmoc at umich.edu>
Sent: Sunday, June 3, 2018 6:28 PM
To: Kenneth Kinman
Cc: John Grehan; taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Long-distance oceanic dispersal (rafting) of Nothofagus species
I'm curious - what is evidence of chance dispersal other than, say, seeing an Anolis lizard on a raft of hurricane debris just off a Caribbean island? - Barry
On Sun, Jun 3, 2018 at 7:08 PM, Kenneth Kinman <kinman at hotmail.com<mailto:kinman at hotmail.com>> wrote:
John,
Well, you tossing out such red herrings will not dissuade me. Including the scientific one about frogs. The two primitive frog families originated way back in the Paleozoic when the world map was much different (Gondwanaland still largely intact). No long-distance dispersal necessary. Vicariance explains that case quite nicely. Nothofagus evolved much later (after the break up Gondwana), so I don't know why you tossed out that red herring. And comparing my hypothesis to UFOs or an Act of God could be interpreted as a bit insulting. And in your second post saying that "Chance dispersal continues to hold a very visceral appeal for evolutionary biologists", seems to indicate to me that many panbiogeographers tend to overstate the importance of vicariance and too often either ignore or attack evidence for chance dispersal when it is presented. I suspect that is what will happen if any evidence is found to support my hypothesis. One thing is certain---we won't find such evidence if we don't look for it.
-------------Ken
P.S. Your latest comment about "fairy tales" was a bit rude. I don't see why the explanation I put forward and question I asked of Bart should be characterized as fairy tales.
________________________________
From: John Grehan <calabar.john at gmail.com<mailto:calabar.john at gmail.com>>
Sent: Sunday, June 3, 2018 9:46 AM
To: Kenneth Kinman
Cc: Stephen Thorpe; taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu<mailto:taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Long-distance oceanic dispersal (rafting) of Nothofagus species
Ken,
Its not a testable notion in any real sense any more than attributing the connection to UFO's. Further, it is not an 'odd' distribution, but one that is very even (meaning standard). One can invoke any number of imaginary events to toss plants and animals from one side of the Tasman to the other, or even just place them there by an Act of God, but there is no empirical imperative to do so for this any more than imagining a tsunami to toss frogs from Vancouver to New Zealand.
John Grehan
On Sun, Jun 3, 2018 at 8:38 AM, Kenneth Kinman <kinman at hotmail.com<mailto:kinman at hotmail.com><mailto:kinman at hotmail.com<mailto:kinman at hotmail.com>>> wrote:
Hi Stephen,
But it could be somewhat scientifically testable if some organisms (mostly likely insects) have the same odd distribution in New Zealand and Tasmania (or adjacent Australia). So I am hoping that some entomologist might know of insects that fit the bill. And if there were more than one such organism, the more likely this dispersal scenario would become.
And note that I cited two different Nothofagus species groups with the same odd distribution (one in subgenus Lophozonia and the other in subgenus Fuscospora). And those two dispersals could have happened at different times. So that already increases the probability of dispersal. Anyway, at least Fred understood what I was suggesting: http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/pipermail/taxacom/2006-December/108388.html
-----------------Ken
________________________________
From: Stephen Thorpe <stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz<mailto:stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz><mailto:stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz<mailto:stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz>>>
Sent: Saturday, June 2, 2018 8:59 PM
To: Kenneth Kinman
Cc: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu<mailto:taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu><mailto:taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu<mailto:taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Long-distance oceanic dispersal (rafting) of Nothofagus species
"Could certain insects, mosses, or other organisms have hitched a ride on such a Nothofagus raft?"
Impossible to rule out just about anything that doesn't constantly require running freshwater. If it happened during summer, there could be a desiccating effect, but at other times the amount of freshwater dampness could remain at acceptable levels.
The problem though, as I see it, is that these dispersion events are entirely random and unpredictable, so it is hard to base much in the way of science on it.
Stephen
--------------------------------------------
On Sun, 3/6/18, Kenneth Kinman <kinman at hotmail.com<mailto:kinman at hotmail.com><mailto:kinman at hotmail.com<mailto:kinman at hotmail.com>>> wrote:
Subject: [Taxacom] Long-distance oceanic dispersal (rafting) of Nothofagus species
To: "Kenneth Kinman" <kinman at hotmail.com<mailto:kinman at hotmail.com><mailto:kinman at hotmail.com<mailto:kinman at hotmail.com>>>
Cc: "taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu<mailto:taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu><mailto:taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu<mailto:taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>>" <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu<mailto:taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu><mailto:taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu<mailto:taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>>>
Received: Sunday, 3 June, 2018, 1:51 PM
Hi all,
The recent thread got me thinking about a debate that some
of us were having on taxacom almost 12 years ago. Namely
whether long-distance oceanic dispersal (by rafting) was a
significant factor in the geographic distribution of some
species of Nothofagus (sensu lato).
My hypothesis was that large rafts of dislodged Nothofagus
trees (due to tsunami or other massive flooding event) could
have held some of their fruit above the ocean surface and
rafted from Tasmania to New Zealand, where one or more new
species could evolve (due to founder effect). This would
be a relatively short rafting event compared to the much
longer driftwood oceanic rafting that happened from South
America to Tasmania: Barber, 1959, in the journal Nature;
"Transport of Driftwood from South America to
Tasmania". Is there other evidence that such dispersal
of Nothofagus could have happened? Could certain insects,
mosses, or other organisms have hitched a ride on such a
Nothofagus raft?
--------------Ken Kinman
http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/pipermail/taxacom/2006-December/108385.html
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