Diversification of genes, populations, and species: evolutionary genetics of real and virtual pocket gophers (Thomomys)
Steinberg EK. 1999. Diversification of genes, populations, and species: evolutionary genetics of real and virtual pocket gophers (Thomomys). University of Washington
From the Abstract: "Pocket gophers (Thomomys) - subterranean rodents found throughout western and southern North America -- are among the most taxonomically diverse mammals. As a result, they have received a great deal of attention by evolutionary biologists. The first chapter of this dissertation explores the use of pocket gophers as a model system to address a broad range of evolutionary issues involving the spatial distribution of genetic variation. & Chapter two uses a spatially-explicit, individual-based simulation model based on pocket gopher biology (hence, virtual pocket gophers) to explore the power of genetic markers to infer current population parameters (such as dispersal rates) for threatened or fragmented species. & The third chapter focuses on a threatened complex of the Pacific northwestern Mazama pocket gopher (Thomomys mazama in Washington state. & In addition to suggesting the need for taxonomic revisions, this study reveals that a disjunct subspecies endemic to a narrow subalpine region of the Olympic mountains is likely a pre-Pleistocene relict, having apparently survived local glaciation."
- Type
- Academic
- Authors
- Steinberg, Eleanor
- Date of Issue
- 1999
- Publisher
- University of Washington
- Units
- OLYM
- Keywords
- Animal Studies, Endemic, Genetics, Mazama pocket gopher (Thomomys mazama), pocket gopher (Thomomys sp.), Prairie, Subalpine, Thesis, Threatened & Endangered