Greg Haenel, professor of biology, presented his research about how past climate change has impacted the genetic structure of lizard populations in the southwestern US at the Evolution 2016 conference.
Evolution 2016, the joint conference of the American Society of Naturalists, the Society for the Study of Evolution, and the Society of Systematic Biologists, was held in Austin, TX from June 17-21, 2016. Dr. Haenel presented his work “Comparison of genetic structure of two tree lizard species: differential responses of a thermal specialist and a thermal generalist to climate change” in a session on population genetics and molecular ecology. This presentation highlighted the increases in genetic diversity found in populations of a species with narrow ecological tolerances that experienced large geographic range contraction and expansion during the last Ice Age. In contrast, low levels of genetic diversity were found in populations of a closely related species with broad ecological tolerances and that had little change in geographic range. These results help us to understand what evolutionary and genetic impacts rapidly changing climates may have on species in the future.