Open AccessGeography is more important than life history in the recent diversification of the tiger salamander complex
Author(s) -
Kathryn Everson,
Levi N. Gray,
Angela Jones,
Nicolette M Lawrence,
Mary E. Foley,
Kelly L Sovacool,
Justin D. Kratovil,
Scott Hotaling,
Paul M Hime,
Andrew Storfer,
Gabriela ParraOlea,
Ruth Percino-Daniel,
Xóchitl Aguilar-Miguel,
Eric O’Neill,
Luís Zambrano,
H. Bradley Shaffer,
David W. Weisrock
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.2014719118
Subject(s) - neoteny , tiger salamander , biology , evolutionary biology , population , ecology , metamorphosis , local adaptation , zoology , larva , demography , sociology
Significance Population structure and speciation are shaped by a combination of biotic and abiotic factors. The tiger salamander complex has been considered a key group in which life history variation has led to a rapid rate of speciation, driven in large part by the evolution of obligate paedomorphosis—a condition in which adults maintain an aquatic, larval phenotype. Using a large multilocus dataset, we present evidence of gene flow between taxa with different life history strategies, suggesting that obligate paedomorphosis is not a strong driver of speciation in the tiger salamander complex. Many of these nominal taxa are listed as critically endangered, and our genetic results provide information and guidance that will be useful for their conservation.