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The
Southern Judean Lowland area in
Israel
is characterized by natural vegetation patches surrounded by agricultural
fields, newly planted forests and other habitats subject to anthropogenic
disturbance. Humans have used this region since the late Bronze Age,
producing as a result a natural archipelago of vegetation attracting a
wide variety of organisms, among them a diversity of beetle species. This
fragmented landscape, together with its semi-arid to Mediterranean
characteristics, forms an appropriate model for phylogeography study
investigating how landscape heterogeneity and patchiness along rainfall
gradient affect genetic diversity and structure. Gal is using molecular
genetic tools combined with advanced spatial analysis based on GIS data to
investigate the effects of spatial heterogeneity and productivity on the
genetic structure of beetle populations. His study addresses an
appropriate topic that can influence our understanding of whether or not
genetic variation is reflecting changes in landscapes. Moreover, exploring
this interesting interplay between genetic structure and ecological
variables will enable us to gain knowledge about important microevolution
processes such as gene flow and selection in this system.
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