Morphological adaptations for digging and climate-impacted soil properties define pocket gopher (Thomomys spp.) distributions.

ABSTRACT: Species ranges are mediated by physiology, environmental factors, and competition with other organisms. The allopatric distribution of five species of northern Californian pocket gophers (Thomomys spp.) is hypothesized to result from competitive exclusion. The five species in this environmentally heterogeneous region separate into two subgenera, Thomomys or Megascapheus, which have divergent digging styles. While all pocket gophers dig with their claws, the tooth-digging adaptations of subgenus Megascapheus allow access to harder soils and climate-protected depths. In a Northern Californian locality, replacement of subgenus Thomomys with subgenus Megascapheus occurred gradually during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. Concurrent climate change over this transition suggests that environm

SUBMITTER: Marcy AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3663803 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature