Current and historical drivers of landscape genetic structure differ in core and peripheral salamander populations.

ABSTRACT: With predicted decreases in genetic diversity and greater genetic differentiation at range peripheries relative to their cores, it can be difficult to distinguish between the roles of current disturbance versus historic processes in shaping contemporary genetic patterns. To address this problem, we test for differences in historic demography and landscape genetic structure of coastal giant salamanders (Dicamptodon tenebrosus) in two core regions (Washington State, United States) versus the species' northern peripheral region (British Columbia, Canada) where the species is listed as threatened. Coalescent-based demographic simulations were consistent with a pattern of post-glacial range expansion, with both ancestral and current estimates of effective population size being much larger withi

SUBMITTER: Dudaniec RY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3349670 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature