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Full-Text Articles in Population Biology

An Analysis Of The Spatial Genetic Structure Of A Hybrid Zone Between Two Species Of Killifish, Fundulus Heteroclitus And F. Grandis, Andrew Lee Hardy Jan 2022

An Analysis Of The Spatial Genetic Structure Of A Hybrid Zone Between Two Species Of Killifish, Fundulus Heteroclitus And F. Grandis, Andrew Lee Hardy

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Hybridization offers unique insight into the evolutionary process of speciation and the forces that maintain barriers to reproduction. In northeast Florida, a hybrid zone between two species of killifish, Fundulus heteroclitus and F. grandis, has been identified near Flagler Beach, FL, although the exact boundaries of the hybrid zone remain unknown (Gonzalez et al. 2009). This study aims to determine the fine-scale spatial genetic patterns of the hybrid zone and test the hypothesis that species ranges are influenced by changes in dominant vegetation. Results from an ADMIXTURE analysis and FST data indicated the boundary of the area of …


Population Genomics Of Redbreast Sunfish (Lepomis Auritus): Exploring Gene Flow And Local Adaptation In A Widely Distributed Freshwater Fish, Garret J. Strickland Jan 2022

Population Genomics Of Redbreast Sunfish (Lepomis Auritus): Exploring Gene Flow And Local Adaptation In A Widely Distributed Freshwater Fish, Garret J. Strickland

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Little information is available concerning the distribution of genetic diversity in non-salmonid, non-imperiled, freshwater fish. In order to fill in this knowledge gap, I conducted a population genomics survey in Redbreast Sunfish (Lepomis auritus; RBS), a widespread, generalist species distributed along the Atlantic slope rivers of eastern North America. I sampled four basins (ACF, Savannah, Roanoke, and James) at eight sites each with a factorial experimental design. Sites were distributed among coastal plain, Piedmont, or mountain ecoregions in order to capture the greatest range of environmental states experienced by RBS, with the intention of finding evidence for local adaptation to …


Florida Sand Skink And Blue-Tailed Mole Skink: Expanding Geographic Coverage Of Genetic Analysis For Conservation, Emma Simpson Jan 2022

Florida Sand Skink And Blue-Tailed Mole Skink: Expanding Geographic Coverage Of Genetic Analysis For Conservation, Emma Simpson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Lake Wales Ridge is important scrub habitat that has been increasingly altered since the post-Columbian settlement in Florida. This loss of habitat has caused extreme anthropogenic fragmentation within the Lake Wales Ridge resulting in isolation among extant scrub patches. To expand the geographic scope of previous studies and answer questions concerning population connectivity, we characterized genetic diversity and differentiation using cytochrome-b and microsatellite genetic markers for two endemic skink species: the Florida Sand Skink (Plestiodon reynoldsi) and Blue-tailed Mole Skink (Plestiodon egregius lividus). Both species display historical isolation between central and southern Lake Wales Ridge …


Evaluating Population Genetic Structure And Potential Genomic Signals Of Natural Selection In A Migratory Songbird (Protonotaria Citrea), Tyler A. Hohenstein Jan 2022

Evaluating Population Genetic Structure And Potential Genomic Signals Of Natural Selection In A Migratory Songbird (Protonotaria Citrea), Tyler A. Hohenstein

Theses and Dissertations

In this study I attempted to further resolve the population genetic structure in the Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea), and conducted an outlier SNP analysis and exploratory gene ontology analysis to investigate potential ongoing natural selection in the species. This analysis of population structure confirms previous work by DeSaix et al. (2019), where weak population structure was observed between eastern sites along the Atlantic Coastal Plain, and western sites in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley, possibly due to a genetic discontinuity across the Appalachian Mountains. I conducted two forms of outlier SNP analyses, a principal component analysis (PCA)-based approach to identify SNPs …