Phylogenetic reconstruction of trans-Tibet dispersal events in wingless ground beetles helps to understand the paleoenvironmental evolution of the Tibetan Plateau

在过去的十年里，我们开发了地面甲虫(鞘翅目：步甲科)作为低纬高山地区的一种新的古环境指标。我们表明，来自喜马拉雅-藏山造山(HTO)特有物种组的生态和系统发育信息的结合，允许发展古环境的时空演化情景，从而允许HTO的区域表面隆起。为了了解青藏高原(HTO)中部的环境演变，关于无翼地甲虫种群穿越西藏分布事件的时间安排的信息尤其有用。对这些物种群体的详细系统发育研究，结合基于化石的分子时钟方法和对物种栖息地偏好的调查，将表明TP上高山和高山环境的发展时间。这项研究将为更好地了解造山作用不同阶段HTO的古生态和古地貌提供新的数据和见解。

During the last decade, we developed ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) as a new paleoenvironmental proxy in high mountains of low latitudes. We showed that the combination of ecological and phylogenetic information from species groups endemic to the Himalayan-Tibetan orogeny (HTO) allows for the development of scenarios of the spatio-temporal evolution of paleoenvironments and thus, for regional surface uplift in the HTO. To understand the environmental evolution of the central part of the HTO, the Tibetan Plateau (TP), information about timing of trans-Tibet distribution events in wingless ground beetle species groups are particularly informative. The detailed phylogenetic study of these species-groups in combination with a fossil based molecular clock approach and investigation of the habitat preferences of the species will indicate timing of the development of high montane and alpine environments on the TP. The here proposed study will thus provide new data and insight for a better understanding of the paleoecology and paleotopography of the HTO during different stages of orogenesis.