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Genetic variation of loci potentially under selection confounds species–genetic diversity correlations in a fragmented habitat
Author(s) -
Bertin Angeline,
Gouin Nicolas,
Baumel Alex,
Gianoli Ernesto,
Serratosa Juan,
Osorio Rodomiro,
Manel Stephanie
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/mec.13923
Subject(s) - biology , genetic diversity , evolutionary biology , habitat fragmentation , genetic variation , ecology , habitat , genetics , population , gene , demography , sociology
Positive species–genetic diversity correlations ( SGDC s) are often thought to result from the parallel influence of neutral processes on genetic and species diversity. Yet, confounding effects of non‐neutral mechanisms have not been explored. Here, we investigate the impact of non‐neutral genetic diversity on SGDC s in high Andean wetlands. We compare correlations between plant species diversity and genetic diversity ( GD ) calculated with and without loci potentially under selection (outlier loci). The study system includes 2188 specimens from five species (three common aquatic macroinvertebrate and two dominant plant species) that were genotyped for 396 amplified fragment length polymorphism loci. We also appraise the importance of neutral processes on SGDC s by investigating the influence of habitat fragmentation features. Significant positive SGDC s were detected for all five species (mean SGDC = 0.52 ± 0.05). While only a few outlier loci were detected in each species, they resulted in significant decreases in GD and in SGDC s. This supports the hypothesis that neutral processes drive species–genetic diversity relationships in high Andean wetlands. Unexpectedly, the effects on genetic diversity GD of the habitat fragmentation characteristics in this study increased with the presence of outlier loci in two species. Overall, our results reveal pitfalls in using habitat features to infer processes driving SGDC s and show that a few loci potentially under selection are enough to cause a significant downward bias in SGDC . Investigating confounding effects of outlier loci thus represents a useful approach to evidence the contribution of neutral processes on species–genetic diversity relationships.