| Abstract Detail
Phylogenomics Medina-Rodriguez, Max D. [1], Maya Lastra, Carlos Alonso [2], Cacho, N. Ivalu [3]. A genomic perspective to the biogeography of the Caribbean spurge Euphorbia tithymaloides. The Caribbean is a complex region, where geological and climatic activity (including winds and oceanic currents) interact to create topographic, edaphic, and climatic complexity that ultimately accounts for this region being recognized as one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots.
Here, we use RADseq data to evaluate genetic diversity, evolutionary divergence, and several biogeographic scenarios of range expansion in the Euphorbia tithymaloides species-complex. The circular distribution of E. tithymaloides around the Caribbean spans Mexico, Florida, Central America, northern South America, and the majority of the Caribbean Antilles. Previous work using two nuclear genes suggested this species colonized the Caribbean from Mexico-Guatemala along two fronts so that this system met the criteria for being recognized as an example of a ring-species (a series of populations that have acquired a circular distribution through geographic range expansion along two fronts such that populations at the fronts of expansion have evolved differences commensurable with those observed at the species level. Part of the significance of ring-species resides in the opportunities they present for the study of population divergence and the processes and mechanisms of speciation.
In this study, we offer a genomic perspective to the biogeography of E. tithymaloides. Preliminary analyses reveal that genetic variation segregates in two well-supported clades, which correspond to the Lesser and Greater Antilles, and the diversity across populations suggests three major groups, with some admixture between them.
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1 - Instituto De Biologia, UNAM, Botanica, 3er Circuito De Ciudad Universitaria S/n, Del. Coyoacan, Mexico City, CDMX, 04510, Mexico
2 - Columbia University, Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology Department, 10th floor Schermerhorn Ext., 1200 , Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY, 10027, USA, New York, NY, 10027, United States
3 - Instituto De Biologia, UNAM, Botanica, 3er Circuito de Ciudad Universitaria s/n UNAM, Coyoacan, CDMX, DF, 04510, Mexico
Keywords:
ring species
Euphorbia
RADseq
phylogenetic analysis
population genetic structure.
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: P3, Phylogenomics Posters
Location: Virtual/Virtual
Date: Wednesday, July 21st, 2021
Time: 5:00 PM(EDT)
Number: P3PL005
Abstract ID:316
Candidate for Awards:None |
