Ecological Diversification of Galápagos Endemic Land Snails
Additional Funding Sources
The project described was supported by the Research Experience for Undergraduates Program Site: Molecular and organismal evolution at the University of Idaho under Award No. 1757826. The project described was also supported by a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award to sponsoring mentor through the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1751157.
Abstract
Adaptive radiations can result from ecological processes such as changes in microhabitat availability or topographic complexity that cause shifts in diversification rates. Naesiotus land snails of the Galápagos Islands have undergone such a radiation, with species spread across the archipelago and in many different microhabitats within islands. Though there has been some work to resolve the evolutionary relationships of Galápagos Naesiotus, factors that drive this radiation have yet to be tested in a phylogenetic framework. Examining the relationships between evolutionary patterns and ecological processes can uncover forces driving speciation. Further, in island systems, these relationships often form independently several times, providing a rich data set for comparative analyses. Herein, we employ phylogenetic comparative methods to elucidate some of the ecological factors driving rapid diversification across the archipelago.
Ecological Diversification of Galápagos Endemic Land Snails
Adaptive radiations can result from ecological processes such as changes in microhabitat availability or topographic complexity that cause shifts in diversification rates. Naesiotus land snails of the Galápagos Islands have undergone such a radiation, with species spread across the archipelago and in many different microhabitats within islands. Though there has been some work to resolve the evolutionary relationships of Galápagos Naesiotus, factors that drive this radiation have yet to be tested in a phylogenetic framework. Examining the relationships between evolutionary patterns and ecological processes can uncover forces driving speciation. Further, in island systems, these relationships often form independently several times, providing a rich data set for comparative analyses. Herein, we employ phylogenetic comparative methods to elucidate some of the ecological factors driving rapid diversification across the archipelago.
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