archives@tulane.edu / For many long-lived, outcrossing trees, a variety of ecological and evolutionary processes impact a species’ ability to respond to environmental change by shaping patterns of genetic diversity and variation. For example, because many plant species rely on animals to disperse their pollen and seeds, the factors that determine the movement of animal mutualists influences the distribution of genetic diversity. Furthermore, the environment often changes across the range of many plant species and exerts differing selective pressures that impact variation in allele frequencies among populations. Despite the importance of understanding the processes that impact a species’ evolutionary potential, the mechanisms that drive these relationships remain unclear. In this dissertation I used the tropical palm Oenocarpus bataua to explore how the distribution of resources, the amount of suitable habitat, and climate influence micro-evolutionary outcomes and patterns of genetic diversity and variation across the species’ range in Ecuador. I found that substantial temporal variation in the density of concurrently flowering conspecific trees influenced pollination parameters, such as genetic diversity, and that the relationship between density and pollination outcomes is scale dependent. Next, I found that that surrounding forest cover at the landscape scale had a similar significant positive association with measures of genetic diversity, suggesting that habitat loss equally dampens the genetic outcomes of both pollen and seed dispersal.Finally, I detected signatures of selection in O. bataua and found that that regional differences in climate influence population- specific responses in genetic and phenotypic variation. This work illustrates how a variety of interacting ecological and evolutionary processes mechanistically shape patterns of genetic diversity and variation within and among populations. / 1 / Zoe Diaz-Martin
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_120487 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Contributors | Diaz-Martin (author), Karubian, Jordan (Thesis advisor), School of Science & Engineering Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (Degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Tulane University |
| Source Sets | Tulane University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | electronic, pages: 153 |
| Rights | No embargo, Copyright is in accordance with U.S. Copyright law. |
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