Population structure within the one-dimensional range of a coastal plain katydid
by Gideon Ney, Johannes Schul
Biogeography plays a significant role in species’ dispersal, and in turn population structure, across the landscape. The North American katydid Neoconocephalus melanorhinus belongs to a genus with high mobility. Unlike other members of the genus, N. melanorhinus is a salt marsh specialist restricted to a narrow corridor along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. In addition, their range crosses at least one known biogeographic barrier and possesses biogeographic characteristics of the stepping-stone as well as the hierarchical island model of dispersal. Using AFLP markers we searched for areas that conform to the predictions of isolation by distance and for areas of non-uniform increases in genetic variance, indicative of isolation by barrier. We found significant genetic differentiation between all twelve sampled sites. Isolation by distance was the predominant pattern of variation across their range. In addition, we saw possible evidence of two biogeographic barriers to gene flow, one at the Atlantic-Gulf divide and the other along the Gulf coast. We also observed a change in body size across the range. Body size, as measured by male hind femur length, correlated closely with latitude, a possible indication of differential selection across the species range.Publisher URL: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0179361
Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.
Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.