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Molecular Evolutionary Analysis Of The American Pika (Ochotona Princeps), Andrew Michael Rankin

All NMU Master's Theses

American pika (Ochotona princeps) are small winter-active mammals inhabiting alpine environments. As the American pika occupies a niche characterized by hypoxia, these animals are an excellent system to use for detecting genetic changes associated with adaptation to these conditions. American pika populations were located at lower elevations during glacials, and shifted upslope during interglacials. In this scenario, pikas would have experienced increased selective pressure to develop adaptations to hypoxia. Here, I use a candidate gene approach to identify molecular signals of adaptation in the American pika genome. I first examined the sequences of 54 candidate genes for adaptation …