Contrasting environmental drivers of genetic and phenotypic divergence in an Andean poison frog (Epipedobates anthonyi).

ABSTRACT: Phenotypic and genetic divergence are shaped by the homogenizing effects of gene flow and the differentiating processes of genetic drift and local adaptation. Herein, we examined the mechanisms that underlie phenotypic (size and color) and genetic divergence in 35 populations (535 individuals) of the poison frog Epipedobates anthonyi along four elevational gradients (0-1800 m asl) in the Ecuadorian Andes. We found phenotypic divergence in size and color despite relatively low genetic divergence at neutral microsatellite loci. Genetic and phenotypic divergence were both explained by landscape resistance between sites (isolation-by-resistance, IBR), likely due to a cold and dry mountain ridge between the northern and southern elevational transects that limits dispersal and separates two colo

SUBMITTER: Paez-Vacas MI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8733028 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature