Adaptation at the edge of a species' range: modelling the interaction between gene flow, selection, and random drift

Statistical Physics and Complexity Group meeting

Adaptation at the edge of a species' range: modelling the interaction between gene flow, selection, and random drift

  • Event time: 11:30am
  • Event date: 22nd September 2010
  • Speaker: Nick Barton (IST Austria)
  • Location: Room 2511,

Event details

The flow of genes from the dense and well-adapted centre of a species' distribution interferes with adaptation to marginal environments, and may sharply limit a species' range. Deterministic models of a linear habitat suggest that populations could in principle adapt to very steep environmental gradients, by increasing their genetic variability. However, random fluctuations in sparse populations reduce this variance, and may be crucial in limiting the species' range.