Ecological opportunities and specializations shaped genetic divergence in a highly mobile marine top predator.

ABSTRACT: Environmental conditions can shape genetic and morphological divergence. Release of new habitats during historical environmental changes was a major driver of evolutionary diversification. Here, forces shaping population structure and ecotype differentiation ('pelagic' and 'coastal') of bottlenose dolphins in the North-east Atlantic were investigated using complementary evolutionary and ecological approaches. Inference of population demographic history using approximate Bayesian computation indicated that coastal populations were likely founded by the Atlantic pelagic population after the Last Glacial Maxima probably as a result of newly available coastal ecological niches. Pelagic dolphins from the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea likely diverged during a period of high productivity in

SUBMITTER: Louis M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4213618 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature