Morphological diversity and ecological niche divergence in goitered and sand gazelles.

ABSTRACT: The phylogeny and species boundaries of Gazella subgutturosa and G. marica have been long debated. The achievements of past conservation efforts have been compromised by a lack of knowledge about the phylogeny and taxonomic status of different populations. We integrated the recent genetic findings by previous studies with morphometric analyses and ecological niche modeling (ENM) to assess discreteness among populations of these gazelle species in Asia. Taxonomic diversity of gazelles was investigated by using principal components analysis (PCA) based on 14 cranial measures of male skulls. Ecological niche divergence was examined based on a PCA on climatic factors and a species distribution modeling (SDM) with environmental variables. Morphometric results indicated substantial

SUBMITTER: Hemami MR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7593170 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature