Biology ETDs

Publication Date

Fall 11-15-2021

Abstract

Comparative phylogeography has historically been defined as the study of how genetic variation of co-distributed species has been shaped by biogeographical history. This is a mature field of study out of which several techniques have been developed directed at identifying the role ecology and geography in diversification patterns across time. I employ the tools developed in classical comparative phylogeography across multiple taxonomic scales and across regions that historically have been understudied. My first two chapters study the complex history of host-switching, codiversification, and reassortment of hantaviruses in their mammal hosts across North America. By taking a host-centric comparative phylogeographic approach to pathogen divergence, I highlighted complex evolutionary processes in host-pathogen systems and the role of host history in shaping the distribution and diversity of pathogens. My final chapter uses a comparative approach to examine the interplay between ecology and climate in shaping divergence and contact within four East Asian pika species during the Quaternary. I show that small mammals in this vast, poorly studied region responded to Pleistocene climatic cycling on finer geographic scales when compared to the North American fauna that is distributed at similar latitudes.

Language

English

Keywords

phylogeography, pikas, shrews, hantavirus

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Biology

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

UNM Biology Department

First Committee Member (Chair)

Joseph Cook

Second Committee Member

Helen Wearing

Third Committee Member

Steven Bradfute

Fourth Committee Member

Don Natvig

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