Meeting Abstract
Climate warming is causing rapid loss of glaciers and snowpack in mountainous regions worldwide. These changes are predicted to negatively impact the habitats of many range-restricted species, particularly endemic, mountaintop species dependent on the unique thermal and hydrologic conditions found only in glacier and snowfed alpine streams. Zapada glacier (Order Plecoptera: Family Nemouridae) was recently petitioned for listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act due to climate change-induced habitat loss. Zapada glacier is known from 10 streams and three mountainous regions, Grand Teton National Park, the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, and Glacier National Park, all within the Rocky Mountains. Evidence from the mitochondrial genome indicates contemporary but rare gene flow among mountain ranges, and much lower genetic differentiation among populations versus ecologically similar, confamilial species. Here, we incorporated a nuclear genome-wide perspective via double-digest restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (ddRAD) to better characterize population structure, demographic history, and species boundaries within this imperiled species.
