Abstract Detail

Biogeography

Anghel, Ioana  [1].

Mapping phenotypes: Modeling the distribution of a polymorphic species.

The morphologically diverse genus Linanthus is a great system to study mechanisms that generate diversity and speciation. Linanthus parryae, in specific, has a variable distribution of white and blue flowered individuals, with many populations that are polymorphic. Earlier studies aimed to understand the forces that give rise to and maintain the flower color polymorphism and showed that there is a higher occurrence of blue morphs in lower rainfall years and of white morphs in higher rainfall years. This result suggests that variable rainfall maintains the flower color polymorphism, where seeds pre-adapted to either condition emerge under different precipitation regimes. It has been proposed that the white morph is generally more common due to a higher seedbank contribution in wetter years. Although these studies were focused on populations of Linanthus parryae only in the Southern Mojave, they make specific predictions as to the distribution of white and blue morphs across the species geographic range. Specifically, one should expect higher relative proportion of the blue morph in consistently drier areas, and vice versa for the white morph. To test this hypothesis, I am using herbarium and iNaturalist locality data to model the climatic niche and distribution of the species using MaxEnt niche modeling. Then, I am examining the connection between precipitation variation and occurrence of each morph by testing whether the lower precipitations areas of the range have a higher prevalence of blue morphs, and vice versa. The predicted distribution models will be used to inform a populations genetics study informing how flower color variation maps onto the genetic structure of the species. The ultimate goal is to understand whether the populations with more consistent rainfall might be differentiating into monomorphic groups.

1 - UCLA, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, 612 Charles E Young Drive S, Los Angeles , CA, 90095, USA

Keywords:
Niche Modeling
Biogeography
polymorphism
Species Distribution Modelling.

Presentation Type: Poster
Session: P, Biogeography
Location: Grand Ballroom - Exhibit Hall/Mayo Civic Center
Date: Monday, July 23rd, 2018
Time: 5:30 PM This poster will be presented at 6:15 pm. The Poster Session runs from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm. Posters with odd poster numbers are presented at 5:30 pm, and posters with even poster numbers are presented at 6:15 pm.
Number: PBG010
Abstract ID:967
Candidate for Awards:None