Assessing models of speciation under different biogeographic scenarios; an empirical study using multi-locus and RNA-seq analyses.

ABSTRACT: Evolutionary biology often seeks to decipher the drivers of speciation, and much debate persists over the relative importance of isolation and gene flow in the formation of new species. Genetic studies of closely related species can assess if gene flow was present during speciation, because signatures of past introgression often persist in the genome. We test hypotheses on which mechanisms of speciation drove diversity among three distinct lineages of desert tortoise in the genus Gopherus. These lineages offer a powerful system to study speciation, because different biogeographic patterns (physical vs. ecological segregation) are observed at opposing ends of their distributions. We use 82 samples collected from 38 sites, representing the entire species' distribution and generate sequence d

SUBMITTER: Edwards T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4729248 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature