Species delimitation in endangered groundwater salamanders: Implications for aquifer management and biodiversity conservation.

ABSTRACT: Groundwater-dependent species are among the least-known components of global biodiversity, as well as some of the most vulnerable because of rapid groundwater depletion at regional and global scales. The karstic Edwards-Trinity aquifer system of west-central Texas is one of the most species-rich groundwater systems in the world, represented by dozens of endemic groundwater-obligate species with narrow, naturally fragmented distributions. Here, we examine how geomorphological and hydrogeological processes have driven population divergence and speciation in a radiation of salamanders (Eurycea) endemic to the Edwards-Trinity system using phylogenetic and population genetic analysis of genome-wide DNA sequence data. Results revealed complex patterns of isolation and reconnection driven

SUBMITTER: Devitt TJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6377464 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature