Meeting Abstract
Organisms display a wide diversity of traits that selection acts upon causing phenotypic change over time. When organisms disperse, however, the resulting small population can experience genetic drift due to decreased genetic diversity within the population. Reintroduction is a common form of population restoration in conservation management plans. The reintroduced populations face challenges that colonizing populations face (i.e. a reduced population number and possible inbreeding). These issues may lead to genetic drift which can majorly impact fitness in the population, potentially leading to population crash. We examined the effects of selection and drift on a metapopulation of the Eastern Collared Lizard (Crotaphytus collaris) on Stegall and Thorny mountains in southern Missouri. We measured a suite of morphology and performance traits to assess levels of differentiation between mountains and developed a phenotypic variance-covariance matrix (P). Multiple matrix analyses suggest that P and the levels of covariation between traits differ between populations. Additionally, univariate analyses suggest some traits have diverged between mountains.
