Range and niche shifts in response to past climate change in the desert horned lizard (Phrynosoma platyrhinos).

ABSTRACT: During climate change, species are often assumed to shift their geographic distributions (geographic ranges) in order to track environmental conditions - niches - to which they are adapted. Recent work, however, suggests that the niches do not always remain conserved during climate change but shift instead, allowing populations to persist in place or expand into new areas. We assessed the extent of range and niche shifts in response to the warming climate after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) in the desert horned lizard (Phrynosoma platyrhinos), a species occupying the western deserts of North America. We used a phylogeographic approach with mitochondrial DNA sequences to approximate the species range during the LGM by identifying populations that exhibit a genetic signal of populati

SUBMITTER: Jezkova T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4876873 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature