Additional Complexity in Historic and Contemporary Gene Flow Among Hoary, Vancouver Island, and Olympic Marmots Revealed by Microsatellites and Ultraconserved Elements.

ABSTRACT: Alpine species are inordinately threatened by habitat loss and precipitation changes resulting from climate change. In North America's Pacific Northwest (PNW), three closely related alpine mammal species-hoary, Olympic, and Vancouver Island marmots-may face greater negative impacts of climate change relative to species found at lower elevations. Phylogenetic studies have found these three species form a monophyletic complex; however, discordant evolutionary histories between mitochondrial and nuclear genes suggest that gene flow may have occurred between these marmot species. Furthermore, mitochondrial data find two reciprocally monophyletic mitochondrial clades (haploclades) of hoary marmots. Nuclear data do not recover this pattern, and interspecific relationships among the markers are n

SUBMITTER: Hamilton NM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12301068 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature