Geographic Isolation Facilitates the Evolution of Reproductive Isolation and Morphological Divergence
Date
2017-10
Authors
Worsham, McLean
Julius, Eric P.
Nice, Chris C.
Diaz, Peter H.
Huffman, David G.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Abstract
Geographic isolation is known to contribute to divergent evolution, resulting in unique phenotypes. Oftentimes morphologically distinct populations are found to be interfertile while reproductive isolation is found to exist within nominal morphological species revealing the existence of cryptic species. These disparities can be difficult to predict or explain especially when they do not reflect an inferred history of common ancestry which suggests that environmental factors affect the nature of ecological divergence. A series of laboratory experiments and observational studies were used to address what role biogeographic factors may play in the ecological divergence of Hyalella amphipods. It was found that geographic isolation plays a key role in the evolution of reproductive isolation and divergent morphology and that divergence cannot be explained by molecular genetic variation.
Description
Keywords
geographic isolation, molecular diversity, morphological diversity, reproductive isolation, evolution, Biology
Citation
Worsham, M. L. D., Julius, E. P., Nice, C. C., Diaz, P. H., & Huffman, D. G. (2017). Geographic isolation facilitates the evolution of reproductive isolation and morphological divergence. Ecology and Evolution, 7(23), pp. 10278–10288.
Rights
Rights Holder
© 2017 The Authors.
Rights License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.