The Hajar Mountains of Southeastern Arabia: a laboratory to understand how reptile diversity is generated, distributed and maintained in arid environments
This thesis provides new insights into the evolution of biodiversity in arid regions by exploring the patterns and drivers of reptile diversity in the Hajar Mountains of Southeastern Arabia. We first assemble a genomic dataset including the entire endemic reptile community to unravel the diversity,...
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| Formato: | tesis doctoral |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2024 |
| País: | España |
| Recursos: | CBUC, CESCA |
| Repositorio: | TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:www.tdx.cat:10803/690405 |
| Acesso em linha: | http://hdl.handle.net/10803/690405 |
| Access Level: | acceso embargado |
| Palavra-chave: | Reptiles Arid environments Arabia Genomics Biogeography Rèptils Aràbia Ambients àrids Genòmica Biogeografia 575 |
| Resumo: | This thesis provides new insights into the evolution of biodiversity in arid regions by exploring the patterns and drivers of reptile diversity in the Hajar Mountains of Southeastern Arabia. We first assemble a genomic dataset including the entire endemic reptile community to unravel the diversity, distribution and structure of reptiles at multiple biological scales. Then, we focus on four particular groups to assess the systematics of some selected taxa, to investigate the effects of gene flow on species delimitation, and to evaluate the conservation status of one of its most imperiled species. Results show that reptile diversity is greatly structured, with paleoclimate emerging as a determinant driver in the evolution of this montane arid community. We reveal high levels of cryptic diversity leading to the description of four new species of geckos, and show that coastal development is having a negative impact on the survival of a Critically Endangered species. Additionally, we evaluate the performance of the genomic techniques used in this thesis and discuss their strengths and limitations for species delimitation and description. |
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