Faculty
Faculty of Science
Supervisor Name
Nusha Keyghobadi
Keywords
butterfly, bog copper, lycaena epixanthe, wing traits, R, ImageJ, morphological divergence, genetic drift, habitat fragmentation
Description
Habitat fragmentation can adversely affect animal and plant species through subdividing their natural habitats into smaller, more isolated patches. Oftentimes, these isolated groups are subject to reduced dispersal and gene flow, leading to genetic divergence and, consequently, morphological divergence among populations. This study aims to quantify the morphological divergence of the bog copper butterfly, Lycaena epixanthe, between nine isolated bog sites in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, via seven quantitative morphological traits in their wing pattern. Statistical analyses demonstrate significant differences in wing trait measurements between populations. As bog coppers are small, weak fliers with a strict host-plant dependency, it is likely that there is little movement or gene flow between populations in this bog system, ultimately leading to morphological divergence among the bog copper populations of Algonquin Provincial Park.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to the NSERC and USRI program for their support through scholarships and hosting workshops to teach and guide participants.
A warm thank you to Dr. Keyghobadi for her invaluable guidance and the members of Keyghobadi lab for their critique, discussion, and hospitality.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Document Type
Poster
Included in
Biodiversity Commons, Biology Commons, Evolution Commons, Molecular Biology Commons, Molecular Genetics Commons, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons, Population Biology Commons
Fine-scale morphological divergence of wing trait variables in highly fragmented populations of the bog copper butterfly (Lycaena epixanthe)
Habitat fragmentation can adversely affect animal and plant species through subdividing their natural habitats into smaller, more isolated patches. Oftentimes, these isolated groups are subject to reduced dispersal and gene flow, leading to genetic divergence and, consequently, morphological divergence among populations. This study aims to quantify the morphological divergence of the bog copper butterfly, Lycaena epixanthe, between nine isolated bog sites in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, via seven quantitative morphological traits in their wing pattern. Statistical analyses demonstrate significant differences in wing trait measurements between populations. As bog coppers are small, weak fliers with a strict host-plant dependency, it is likely that there is little movement or gene flow between populations in this bog system, ultimately leading to morphological divergence among the bog copper populations of Algonquin Provincial Park.