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Phylogeography of the tundra vole (Microtus oeconomus): This work formed the basis for my MS thesis, which I completed at the University of Alaska Fairbanks under Joe Cook. I studied the tundra vole, a northern rodent and recent colonizer of North America via Beringia, to explore the genetic consequences of historical glaciations for high-latitude faunas. I sampled voles from localities distributed throughout the Beringian region and used phylogenetic and demographic analyses to reconstruct patterns of historical isolation and population expansion. Two major clades were identified, one in Central Asia and the other in Beringia, spanning the Bering Strait. Glacial barriers were implicated in driving the differentiation between these clades, though subsequent expansion of Beringian populations has brought them back into contact with Central Asian voles along the Omolon River in eastern Siberia. Demographic analyses retrieved a strong signature of population expansion within the Beringian clade regardless of glacial history, suggesting that the signature may be the result of the original colonization of Beringia (and hence North America) by a small founder population from Asia that subsequently expanded in isolation. Tissues and voucher specimens used in this work are archived at the University of Alaska Museum of the North. This work was supported by grants from the Global Change Office of the International Arctic Research Center, the Hayward Fund, and the American Society of Mammalogists. Many of the specimens used in this study were collected through the Beringian Coevolution Project. | ||
Publications that resulted from this work:
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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Any opinions, findings or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.