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RELATIONSHIP OF GENETIC DIVERSITY AND NICHE CENTRALITY: A SURVEY AND ANALYSIS
Author(s) -
LiraNoriega Andrés,
Manthey Joseph D.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.84
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1558-5646
pISSN - 0014-3820
DOI - 10.1111/evo.12343
Subject(s) - biology , geographical distance , genetic diversity , niche , range (aeronautics) , ecology , evolutionary biology , geographic variation , genetic variation , population , genetics , demography , materials science , sociology , gene , composite material
The distribution of genetic diversity within and among populations in relation to species’ geographic ranges is important to understanding processes of evolution, speciation, and biogeography. One hypothesis predicts that natural populations at geographic range margins will have lower genetic diversity relative to those located centrally in species’ distributions owing to a link between geographic and environmental marginality; alternatively, genetic variation may be unrelated with geographic marginality via decoupling of geographic and environmental marginality. We investigate the predictivity of geographic patterns of genetic variation based on geographic and environmental marginality using published genetic diversity data for 40 species (insects, plants, birds, mammals, worms). Only about half of species showed positive relationships between geographic and environmental marginality. Three analyses (sign test, multiple linear regression, and meta‐analysis of correlation effect sizes) showed a negative relationship between genetic diversity and distance to environmental niche centroid, but no consistent relationship of genetic diversity with distance to geographic range center.