Population expansion, divergence, and persistence in Western Fence Lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis) at the northern extreme of their distributional range.

ABSTRACT: Population dynamics within species at the edge of their distributional range, including the formation of genetic structure during range expansion, are difficult to study when they have had limited time to evolve. Western Fence Lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis) have a patchy distribution at the northern edge of their range around the Puget Sound, Washington, where they almost exclusively occur on imperiled coastal habitats. The entire region was covered by Pleistocene glaciation as recently as 16,000 years ago, suggesting that populations must have colonized these habitats relatively recently. We tested for population differentiation across this landscape using genome-wide SNPs and morphological data. A time-calibrated species tree supports the hypothesis of a post-glacial establishment and

SUBMITTER: Davis HR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9012774 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature