Finding islands of divergence during raising sea levels. Rui Faria CBIO Portugal

Título: Finding islands of divergence during raising sea levels

Ponente: Rui Faria, CBIO, Portugal

Resumen:

The flat periwinkles, Littorina fabalis and L. obtusata, are two sister species of intertidal gastropods that offer a promising system to investigate the role of natural selection, drift and gene flow in adaptation and speciation. In particular, the fact that several morphotypes/ecotypes have been described for L. fabalis along its distribution range, offers natural replicates to explore to what extent genetic divergence is promoted by contrasting wave exposure intensities and to shed light on the genetic mechanisms of parallel evolution. Here I will present the work in progress within the framework of an interdisciplinary research project based on population genomics, geometric morphometrics, behaviour and modeling, aiming to identify the genetic variation and the processes involved in morphotype/ecotype evolution and in the establishment of reproductive isolation across this speciation continuum.