Phylogeography and postglacial expansion of the endangered semi-aquatic mammal Galemys pyrenaicus.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Species with strict ecological requirements may provide new insights into the forces that shaped the geographic variation of genetic diversity. The Pyrenean desman, Galemys pyrenaicus, is a small semi-aquatic mammal that inhabits clean streams of the northern half of the Iberian Peninsula and is endangered in most of its geographic range, but its genetic structure is currently unknown. While the stringent ecological demands derived from its aquatic habitat might have caused a partition of the genetic diversity among river basins, Pleistocene glaciations would have generated a genetic pattern related to glacial refugia.

Results

To study the relative importance of historical and ecological factors in the genetic structure of G. pyrenaicus, we used mitochondrial and

SUBMITTER: Igea J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3682870 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature