Graduate Fellow
The Indian and Pacific Oceans contain much of the world’s marine biodiversity, however species and genetic lineages are not evenly distributed throughout this region. Phylogeographic and population genetic studies have identified genetic breaks and diversity gradients for many Indo-Pacific marine species. Understanding the generality of such genetic patterns across all marine species is important for describing the evolution of biodiversity in the Indo-Pacific and for spatial conservation planning. Traditionally, genetic diversity has been described using measures such nucleotide/haplotype diversity and allelic richness, and genetic breaks defined using genetic distance and fixation indices (or more recently using coalescent theory and assignment tests). However many ecological concepts and derived measures may allow more nuanced understanding of spatial genetic patterns. The NESCent working group, ‘Advancing genetic diversity research in the Indian and Pacific Oceans’ is building a database of spatial genetic studies of Indo-Pacific marine organisms. I propose to complement planned conventional genetic analyses by applying beta-diversity measures, and nestedness analyses typically used in ecological and biogeographic studies. As a NESCent graduate fellow, I would: describe genetic diversity gradients considering nestedness and turnover to identify ‘evolutionary sinks’ and ‘sources’ across species ranges; and reveal the significance of genetic nestedness and turnover in forming genetic breaks across the ranges of Indo-Pacific marine species. Partitioning genetic diversity into nested and turnover patterns can help reveal the drivers of genetic breaks, and can reveal genetic diversity gradients not detectable using conventional population genetic measures.
Nestedness and turnover in the genetic diversity of marine species in the Indo-Pacific Ocean
| PI(s): | Libby Liggins (The University of Queensland (AUSTRALIA)) |
| Start Date: | 23-Apr-2014 |
| End Date: | 31-Jul-2014 |
| Keywords: | biodiversity, biogeography, macroevolution, comparative methods, population genetics |
The Indian and Pacific Oceans contain much of the world’s marine biodiversity, however species and genetic lineages are not evenly distributed throughout this region. Phylogeographic and population genetic studies have identified genetic breaks and diversity gradients for many Indo-Pacific marine species. Understanding the generality of such genetic patterns across all marine species is important for describing the evolution of biodiversity in the Indo-Pacific and for spatial conservation planning. Traditionally, genetic diversity has been described using measures such nucleotide/haplotype diversity and allelic richness, and genetic breaks defined using genetic distance and fixation indices (or more recently using coalescent theory and assignment tests). However many ecological concepts and derived measures may allow more nuanced understanding of spatial genetic patterns. The NESCent working group, ‘Advancing genetic diversity research in the Indian and Pacific Oceans’ is building a database of spatial genetic studies of Indo-Pacific marine organisms. I propose to complement planned conventional genetic analyses by applying beta-diversity measures, and nestedness analyses typically used in ecological and biogeographic studies. As a NESCent graduate fellow, I would: describe genetic diversity gradients considering nestedness and turnover to identify ‘evolutionary sinks’ and ‘sources’ across species ranges; and reveal the significance of genetic nestedness and turnover in forming genetic breaks across the ranges of Indo-Pacific marine species. Partitioning genetic diversity into nested and turnover patterns can help reveal the drivers of genetic breaks, and can reveal genetic diversity gradients not detectable using conventional population genetic measures.
Related products
Publications- Latitude-wide genetic patterns reveal historical effects and contrasting patterns of turnover and nestedness at the range peripheries of a tropical marine fish Liggins, L., Booth, D. G., Figueira, W. F., Treml, E. A., Tonk, L., Ridgway, T., Harris, D. A., Riginos, C. 2015. Latitude-wide genetic patterns reveal historical effects and contrasting patterns of turnover and nestedness at the range peripheries of a tropical marine fish. Ecography: 10.1111/ecog.01398
