Distance,elevation and environment as drivers of diversity and divergence in bumble bees across latitude and altitude |
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Authors: | Jason M Jackson Meaghan L Pimsler Kennan Jeannet Oyen Jonathan B Koch‐Uhuad James D Herndon James P Strange Michael E Dillon Jeffrey D Lozier |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama;2. Department of Zoology & Physiology and Program in Ecology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming;3. Tropical Conservation Biology & Environmental Science Graduate Program, Department of Biology, University of Hawaii at Hilo, Hilo, Hawaii;4. USDA‐ARS Pollinating Insect Research Unit, Utah State University, Logan, Utah |
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Abstract: | Identifying drivers of dispersal limitation and genetic differentiation is a key goal in biogeography. We examine patterns of population connectivity and genetic diversity using restriction site‐associated DNA sequencing (RADseq) in two bumble bee species, Bombus vosnesenskii and Bombus bifarius, across latitude and altitude in mountain ranges from California, Oregon and Washington, U.S.A. Bombus vosnesenskii, which occurs across a broader elevational range at most latitudes, exhibits little population structure while B. bifarius, which occupies a relatively narrow higher elevation niche across most latitudes, exhibits much stronger population differentiation, although gene flow in both species is best explained by isolation with environmental niche resistance. A relationship between elevational habitat breadth and genetic diversity is also apparent, with B. vosnesenskii exhibiting relatively consistent levels of genetic diversity across its range, while B. bifarius has reduced genetic diversity at low latitudes, where it is restricted to high‐elevation habitat. The results of this study highlight the importance of the intersect between elevational range and habitat suitability in influencing population connectivity and suggest that future climate warming will have a fragmenting effect even on populations that are presently well connected, as they track their thermal niches upward in montane systems. |
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Keywords: |
Bombus
gene flow population genomics RADseq resistance modelling SNPs |
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