Date of Award:

5-2012

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Wildland Resources

Committee Chair(s)

Karen E. Mock

Committee

Karen E. Mock

Committee

Edmund D. Brodie Jr.

Committee

S. K. Morgan Ernest

Committee

David N. Koons

Abstract

Genetic diversity is the raw material for evolution: evolution cannot happen without genetic diversity, and the ability of a population to respond to a changing environment depends directly on how diverse its genes are. Understanding the distribution of genetic diversity is important for many reasons, including predicting whether species will be able to adapt to climate change and predicting the spread of invasive species. Information about the distribution of genetic diversity across the range of the Northern Leopard Frog, a declining species, will not only help us to ensure that the species can continue to evolve in response to changing environmental conditions, but it will also help us gain a better understanding of what factors drive genetic diversity in populations of other species. In Chapter 2, we found that genetic diversity was reduced in edge populations relative to central populations, but was not reduced in populations in previously glaciated areas; therefore position at range edge had a stronger effect in reducing diversity than recent colonization of new habitat. In Chapter 3, we found two distinct lineages within the species that mix in the eastern Great Lakes region, elevating genetic diversity in that area. In Chapter 4, we found that populations in the Stoneman Lake area of Arizona had high genetic diversity, but also contained evidence of introduction of eastern frogs, and we concluded that moving frogs from the Stoneman Lake area to restore diversity in other Arizona populations is not recommended.

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72e29849161c79c1f20e6f5592ca2c3d

Comments

This work made publicly available electronically on July 30, 2012.

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