From micro- to macroevolution: insights from a Neotropical bromeliad with high population genetic structure adapted to rock outcrops.

ABSTRACT: Geographic isolation and reduced population sizes can lead to local extinction, low efficacy of selection and decreased speciation. However, population differentiation is an essential step of biological diversification. In allopatric speciation, geographically isolated populations differentiate and persist until the evolution of reproductive isolation and ecological divergence completes the speciation process. Pitcairnia flammea allows us to study the evolutionary consequences of habitat fragmentation on naturally disjoint rock-outcrop species from the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest (BAF). Our main results showed low-to-moderate genetic diversity within populations, and deep population structuring caused by limited gene flow, low connectivity, genetic drift and inbreeding of long-term isola

SUBMITTER: Mota MR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7555499 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature