Poster Presentation Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution Conference 2016

Genomic divergence in allopatry vs. parapatry through the speciation process (#530)

Joshua V Penalba 1 , Leo Joseph 2 , Craig Moritz 1
  1. Australian National University, Acton, ACT, Australia
  2. Australian National Wildlife Collection, CSIRO, Canberra, ACT

The geographic mode of speciation (allopatry vs. parapatry) has been shown to influence the accumulation of genomic divergence through the speciation process. The outcomes of divergence in allopatry in contrast to parapatry are likely influenced by differences in the effect of genetic drift and linked selection, which in turn are affected by the history of connection and gene flow. To understand the different ways that genomic divergence can accumulate as speciation progresses, we take a comparative using 10 Australian bird species co-distributed across these 4 geographic regions: Northern Territory, Cape York Peninsula, central Queensland, and Papua New Guinea. The populations are divided by well-known biogeographical barriers and population pairs are either allopatric or parapatric relative to one another. Thousands of SNPs from ddRADseq data were collected to characterize population divergence parameters and gene flow. Preliminary analysis shows wide variation in levels of genomic divergence and relationships between populations within each species. Findings depict the differences in the accumulation of genomic divergence when populations diverge in allopatry vs. parapatry. Understanding the process by which genome-wide divergence accumulates in these scenarios will allow us to further understand potential speciation histories of diverged taxa as well as better predict potential outcomes of diverging populations.