Date of Award
1-1-2016
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.S.
Department
Biological Sciences
First Advisor
Thomas W. Quinn, Ph.D.
Keywords
Assortative mating, Lesser snow goose, Population genetics
Abstract
The Lesser Snow Goose has been shown to exhibit imprinted positive assortative mating on the basis of its color phases, blue and white, and it has been proposed that the geographic cline of the color phases reflects a historic allopatry of the phases. Using ddRAD-seq, thousands of SNPs were analyzed in both phases and in colonies across the range of the species to examine genetic evidence for separation of the color phases or along the two migratory pathways, which have also been hypothesized to be separate. These analyses did not reveal any genetic differentiation between the color phases nor by migratory pathway. These data are consistent with a single panmictic population. The Lesser Snow Goose is a poor candidate for sympatric speciation, as gene flow between the phases is high, and assortative mating is focused on a single locus.
Recommended Citation
Horowitz, Brent B., "Panmixia Across the Range of the Assortatively Mating Lesser Snow Goose" (2016). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1211.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/1211
Provenance
Received from ProQuest
Rights holder
Brent B. Horowitz
File size
40 p.
Copyright date
2016
File format
application/pdf
Language
en
Discipline
Genetics
Comments
Copyright is held by the author.