Speaker
Description
‘What is a species?’ is a fundamental question in biology influencing many aspects of integrated biodiversity research. The biological species concept, long considered as the golden standard, defines species as reproductively isolated populations in which there is no gene flow and whose genomes diverge due to selection and genetic drift. However, species constantly interact through gene flow, hybridization, and polyploidization. Understanding the drivers and mechanisms of species maintenance is therefore very important, especially in global diversity hotspots such as the South American Andes. In this project, we aim to provide empirical evidence that species identity can be maintained despite continuous and high gene flow, with speciation occurring at the genic rather than at the genomic level. We sampled two morphologically distinct species of the high-Andean genus Polylepis (P. neglecta in Bolivia and P. incana in Ecuador), which occur sympatrically with other species (P. neglecta with P. besseri, P. hieronymi, and P. subtusalbida; P. incana with P. longipilosa, P. ochreata, P. pauta, P. reticulata and P. simpsoniae). By generating morphological (40 traits) and genomic (ddRADseq) data for about 170 specimens, we will explore the hypothesis that gene flow between sympatric Polylepis species is high and that species will cluster geographically rather than by morphology. If confirmed, this suggests that species identity can be maintained despite gene flow. The results of this project will emphasize the importance of a resolved taxonomy for integrated biodiversity research.
| Status Group | Postdoctoral Researcher |
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