Speciation, geographic variation, and genetic differentiation are fundamental processes that generate diversity, and understanding these processes are major goals of evolutionary biology. Evolutionary phenomena may be more observable on islands as compared to continental landmasses as a result of small population sizes, unoccupied niches, and the relative simplicity of island systems and their populations: physical isolation, shorter (and often well documented) geologic time scale, reduced faunal diversity, and lack of outside faunal influence. Yet, despite their incredible diversity, Pacific island faunas have received little research attention relative to other tropical regions. Using molecular data from several species of scincid lizards in the genus Emoia, I test hypotheses related to the generation and maintenance of biodiversity in Pacific oceanic systems, examining historical patterns of colonization, dispersal, and differentiation for a member of a vertebrate family with a broad distribution in the islands of the Pacific. This research is primarily conducted within the Vanuatu Archipelago, an ideal island group in which to examine questions associated with the role of island systems in promoting diversification and speciation. Vanuatu is an oceanic archipelago and its fauna is derived either via over water dispersal or cladogenesis. As it is also a geologically young island group (most islands emergent < 2 mya) interpretation and analysis of intra-archipelago variation during the early stages of a radiation are possible from data collected in this system. Comparison of patterns of diversification and differentiation recovered from Emoia in Vanuatu with patterns recovered for species in other well-studied, older island radiations (such as the Hawaiian Islands) enables an understanding of the generality of factors promoting diversity and speciation in island systems.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-11122008-180920 |
| Date | 14 November 2008 |
| Creators | Hamilton, Alison Madeline |
| Contributors | Austin, Christopher C, Brumfield, Robb Thomas, Hafner, Mark S, Hellberg, Michael E, Prowell, Dorothy |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-11122008-180920/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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