Thermal selection as a driver of marine ecological speciation.

ABSTRACT: Intraspecific genetic structure in widely distributed marine species often mirrors the boundaries between temperature-defined bioregions. This suggests that the same thermal gradients that maintain distinct species assemblages also drive the evolution of new biodiversity. Ecological speciation scenarios are often invoked to explain such patterns, but the fact that adaptation is usually only identified when phylogenetic splits are already evident makes it impossible to rule out the alternative scenario of allopatric speciation with subsequent adaptation. We integrated large-scale genomic and environmental datasets along one of the world's best-defined marine thermal gradients (the South African coastline) to test the hypothesis that incipient ecological speciation is a result of divergence

SUBMITTER: Teske PR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6408613 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature