Ring distributions leading to species formation: a global topographic analysis of geographic barriers associated with ring species.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In the mid 20th century, Ernst Mayr and Theodosius Dobzhansky championed the significance of circular overlaps or ring species as the perfect demonstration of speciation, yet in the over 50 years since, only a handful of such taxa are known. We developed a topographic model to evaluate whether the geographic barriers that favor processes leading to ring species are common or rare, and to predict where other candidate ring barriers might be found.

Results

Of the 952,147 geographic barriers identified on the planet, only about 1% are topographically similar to barriers associated with known ring taxa, with most of the likely candidates occurring in under-studied parts of the world (for example, marine environments, tropical latitudes). Predicted barriers separate in

SUBMITTER: Monahan WB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3320551 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature