Allobates Femoralis como modelo para caracterizar Gradientes geográficos sutis e nítidos na bacia Amazônica
It is well established that the occurrence of species depends on their biological needs in given environments, and that species are distributed to favorable habitat patches which are separated from each other by unsuitable habitats. However, determining how habitat heterogeneity interacts with th...
| Autor principal: | Ferreira, Anthony Santana |
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| Grau: | Tese |
| Idioma: | por |
| Publicado em: |
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia - INPA
2020
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| Assuntos: | |
| Acesso em linha: |
https://repositorio.inpa.gov.br/handle/1/12267 http://lattes.cnpq.br/3752141707320286 |
| Resumo: |
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It is well established that the occurrence of species depends on their biological needs in
given environments, and that species are distributed to favorable habitat patches which
are separated from each other by unsuitable habitats. However, determining how habitat
heterogeneity interacts with the distribution and density of species at various geographic
scales and how historical processes and the contemporary environment has influenced
gene flow across landscapes remains one of the major challenges in ecology and
evolutionary biology. This type of approach is still rare in Amazonia, especially when it
comes to anurans. The main goals of this thesis were to investigate the role of
environmental gradients on the distribution, abundance, genetic variability and gene
flow of Allobates femoralis along 880 km of heterogeneous landscape in the interfluve
between the Purus and Madeira rivers (PMI). In the first chapter, we tested whether
soil and forest characteristics are associated with the distribution and relative abundance
of A. femoralis along PMI. We show that A. femoralis is more abundant in open forests
and absent or rare in dense forests and positively associated with clay-rich soils. Our
findings suggest that the distribution and relative abundance of this species is shaped by
gradual ecological clines. In the second chapter, we apply a multilevel modeling
approach based on genomic data and circuit theory to test whether geographic distance
and environmental gradients across the heterogeneous landscape of PMI influences the
genetic variability and gene flow of A. femoralis. We show that spatial patterns of
genetic variability and gene flow in A. femoralis are influenced by both geographic
distance and environmental gradients, thus supporting the gradient hypothesis for
diversification. We also identified four genetic clusters which partly paralleled
phenotypic variation (femoral spot colour), strong divergence in the northeastern part of
the PMI that is likely due to historical processes, and with the presence of different
forest types. We suggest that investigating the role of environmental heterogeneity in
other codistributed species will provide data that can be used to better understand the
role of environmental gradients in the parapatric diversification of species in the
Amazon. |