Authors

Marelize Snyman

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Abstract

The Cyclades are a group of islands found in the Aegean Sea. The islands have long been a popular research destination due to the interesting patterns of diversification found in the terrestrial animals that inhabit them. Even though these patterns of diversification have been researched, studies have failed to address the recurrent nature of this pattern or offer possible explanations for its occurrence. To further investigate this phenomenon, we performed ddRADseq on 38 samples of Vipera ammodytes from the Cycladic islands. After the sequences were processed, we performed a Structure analysis and built a maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree using RAxML. Our results indicated that there is a significant difference between the populations found on the northern and southern islands. Furthermore, we propose that this pattern of diversification is due to glacial and interglacial cycles that lead to the continuous formation and disappearance of land bridges between the islands.

Publication Date

5-1-2017

Language

English

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