Adaptive signal coloration maintained in the face of gene flow in a Hispaniolan Anolis Lizard.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Studies of geographic variation can provide insight into the evolutionary processes involved in the early stages of biological diversification. In particular, multiple, replicated cases of geographic trait divergence present a powerful approach to study how patterns of introgression and adaptive divergence can vary with geographic space and time. In this study, we conduct replicated, fine-scaled molecular genetic analyses of striking geographic dewlap color variation of a Hispaniolan Anolis lizard, Anolis distichus, to investigate whether adaptive trait divergence is consistently associated with speciation, whereby genetic divergence is observed with neutral markers, or whether locally adapted traits are maintained in the face of continued gene flow.

Results

We fi

SUBMITTER: Ng J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5029017 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature