Forest tree species of temperate and boreal regions have undergone a long history of demographic changes and evolutionary adaptations. The main objective of this study was to detect signals of selection in Norway spruce (Picea abies [L.] Karst), at different sampling-scales and to investigate, accounting for population structure, the effect of environment on species genetic diversity. A total o...

Previously, we observed that without using prior information about individual sampling locations, a clustering algorithm applied to multilocus genotypes from worldwide human populations produced genetic clusters largely coincident with major geographic regions. It has been argued, however, that the degree of clustering is diminished by use of samples with greater uniformity in geographic distri...

Genetic structure of phytophagous insects has been widely studied, however, relative influence of the effect of geographic isolation, the host plant or both has been subject of considerable debate. Several studies carried out on bark beetles in the genus Dendroctonus evaluated these factors; nonetheless, recent evidence has shown that genetic structuring is a more complex process. Our goal was ...

Herbivory is an ecological process that is known to generate different patterns of selection on defensive plant traits across populations. Studies on this topic could greatly benefit from the general framework of the Geographic Mosaic Theory of Coevolution (GMT). Here, we hypothesize that herbivory represents a strong pressure for extrafloral nectary (EFN) bearing plants, with differences in he...

Pleistocene glacial-interglacial climatic oscillations greatly shaped the current genetic structure of many species. However, geographic features may influence the impact of climatic cycling. Distinct geographic and environmental characters between northern and southern parts of the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (EQTP) facilitate explorations into the impacts of geographic features on species...

The Uto-Aztecan premolar (UAP) is a dental polymorphism characterized by an exaggerated distobuccal rotation of the paracone in combination with the presence of a fossa at the intersection of the distal occlusal ridge and distal marginal ridge of upper first premolars. This trait is important because, unlike other dental variants, it has been found exclusively in Native American populations. Ho...

Worldwide patterns of genetic variation are driven by human demographic history. Here, we test whether this demographic history has left similar signatures on phonemes-sound units that distinguish meaning between words in languages-to those it has left on genes. We analyze, jointly and in parallel, phoneme inventories from 2,082 worldwide languages and microsatellite polymorphisms from 246 worl...

anthracnose caused by colletotrichum gloeosporioides s. l. is one of the most important diseases of citrus in northern iran. to study the genetic structure of c. gloeosporioides s. l. from citrusspp., infected samples were collected from three citrus cultivating regions of northern iran, during the summer of 2009. fifty one monoconidial isolates were used as the objective of rep- and box-pcr fi...

Populations are often found on different habitats at different geographic locations. This habitat shift may be due to biased dispersal, physiological tolerances or biotic interactions. To explore how fitness of the native plant Chamaecrista fasciculata depends on habitat within, at and beyond its range edge, we planted seeds from five populations in two soil substrates at these geographic locat...

The water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is an important dairy animal on the Indian subcontinent and in Southeast Asian countries. The diversity and differentiation among 12 populations or breeds of buffalo were studied. Data were generated and analyzed from 527 animals belonging to 10 recognized breeds and 2 additional populations of Indian buffalo by using 22 microsatellite loci. Relationships amo...