Population genetics of ecological communities with DNA barcodes: an example from New Guinea Lepidoptera.

ABSTRACT: Comparative population genetics of ecological guilds can reveal generalities in patterns of differentiation bearing on hypotheses regarding the origin and maintenance of community diversity. Contradictory estimates of host specificity and beta diversity in tropical Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) from New Guinea and the Americas have sparked debate on the role of host-associated divergence and geographic isolation in explaining latitudinal diversity gradients. We sampled haplotypes of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I from 28 Lepidoptera species and 1,359 individuals across four host plant genera and eight sites in New Guinea to estimate population divergence in relation to host specificity and geography. Analyses of molecular variance and haplotype networks indicate varying pattern

SUBMITTER: Craft KJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2841870 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature