Geography vs. past climate: the drivers of population genetic structure of the Himalayan langur

BACKGROUND: Contemporary species distribution, genetic diversity and evolutionary history in many taxa are shaped by both historical and current climate as well as topography. The Himalayas show a huge variation in topography and climatic conditions across its entire range, and have experienced major climatic fluctuations in the past. However, very little is known regarding how this heterogenous landscape has moulded the distribution of Himalayan fauna. A recent study examined the effect of these historical events on the genetic diversity of the Himalayan langurs in Nepal Himalaya. However, this study did not include the samples from the Indian Himalayan region (IHR). Therefore, here we revisit the questions addressed in the previous study with a near complete sampling from the IHR, along with the samples from the Nepal Himalaya. We used the mitochondrial Cytochrome-b (Cyt-b, 746 bp) region combined with multiple phylogeographic analyses and palaeodistribution modelling. RESULTS: Our dataset contained 144 sequences from the IHR as well as the Nepal Himalaya. Phylogenetic analysis showed a low divergent western clade nested within high divergent group of eastern lineages and in the network analysis we identified 22 haplotypes over the entire distribution range of the Himalayan langurs. Samples from the Nepal Himalaya showed geographically structured haplotypes corresponding to different river barriers, whereas samples from IHR showed star-like topology with no structure. Our statistical phylogeography analysis using diyABC supported the model of east to west colonisation of these langurs with founder event during colonisation. Analysis of demographic history showed that the effective population size of the Himalayan langurs decreased at the onset of last glacial maximum (LGM) and started increasing post LGM. The palaeodistribution modelling showed that the extent of suitable habitat shifted from low elevation central Nepal, and adjoining parts of north India, during LGM to the western Himalaya at present. CONCLUSION: The current genetic diversity and distribution of Himalayan langurs in the Nepal Himalaya has been shaped by river barriers, whereas the rivers in the IHR had relatively less time to act as a strong genetic barrier after the recent colonisation event. Further, the post LGM expansion could have had confounding effect on Himalayan langur population structure in both Nepal Himalaya and IHR. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12862-022-02054-1.