Credit: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2024.108116 By harnessing the power of machine learning, researchers have constructed a framework for analyzing what factors most significantly contribute to a species’ genetic diversity. The study, recently published in the journal Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution , suggests that the genetic variation of two species, the Brazilian sibilator frog and the granular toad, both amphibians native to northeastern Brazil, were shaped by different processes. Results showed that the genetic variation in the sibilator frog was shaped mostly by population demographic events in response to habitat changes that occurred over the last 100,000 years. In contrast, genetic diversity in the granular toad was mostly shaped by contemporary landscape factors—toads that are relatively more isolated, either by geographic distance or inhospitable habitat, were more […]
Original web page at phys.org
