A TALE OF TWO PIKAS: GENETIC CHARACTERIZATION OF HYBRID ZONE DYNAMICS | |||
| Rachel M Billings; CU Boulder; rachel.billings@colorado.edu; Chris Ray, Jessica Castillo Vardaro | |||
Hybridization can have important consequences for species fitness ranging from hybrid vigor to inbreeding depression. These impacts may be more significant for species such as the American pika, whose physiological needs and limited ability to disperse may make them more vulnerable to gene flow shifts in a rapidly changing climate. This study characterizes a zone of hybridization between two subspecies of American pika (Ochotona princep princeps and O. p. saxatilis) found in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, USA. This hybrid zone was first sampled in 2012 for a study of spatial overlap between subspecies as revealed through analysis of mtDNA. Our current sampling is designed to infer any expansion/contraction or movement of the hybrid zone since 2012, and to understand the factors influencing gene flow between these taxa (e.g., geographic dispersal barriers and/or selection against hybrids). As in previous studies, we used mitochondrial cytochrome-b sequencing to classify subspecies from pika fecal pellet samples collected along five transects spanning the potential hybrid zone in 2024. Based on samples analyzed to date, there has been no clear shift in the area occupied by either subspecies, although there is preliminary evidence that the southern subspecies, O. p. saxatilis, is expanding northward. | |||
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