Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2011 Evolutionary history of isolation and dispersal in North American ground skinks (Scinella lateralis) Nathan Daniel Jackson Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Recommended Citation Jackson, Nathan Daniel, "Evolutionary history of isolation and dispersal in North American ground skinks (Scinella lateralis)" (2011). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 3762. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/3762 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF ISOLATION AND DISPERSAL IN NORTH AMERICAN GROUND SKINKS (SCINCELLA LATERALIS) A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Biological Sciences by Nathan Daniel Jackson B.S., Brigham Young University, 2001 M.S., Brigham Young University, 2005 May 2011 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I am indebted to my advisor, Dr. Christopher C. Austin, who allowed me to pursue my own interests while providing dedicated encouragement and guidance throughout my time at LSU. I could not have completed this project without his support. My dissertation committee consisting of Drs. Robb T. Brumfield, Bryan C. Carstens, Mark S. Hafner, Michael E. Hellberg, and Daniel B. Paulsen has provided critical advice and guidance throughout this project for which I am very grateful. I would like to thank the following organizations who provided collection permits, often for multiple years: United States Department of Agriculture, United States Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service, Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Georgia State Parks & Historic Sites, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Pike State Forest, Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, Kentucky Department of Parks, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Battle Creek Cypress Swamp Sanctuary, Flag Ponds Nature Park, Cedarville State Forest, Maryland Department of Natural Resources Wildlife and Heritage Service, Smallwood State Park, Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, Missouri Department of Conservation, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry, New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife, North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, Ohio Division of Wildlife, Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department, Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, South Carolina State Parks, South ii Carolina Division of Wildlife & Freshwater Fisheries, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Natural Resource Program, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (Wildlife Resources Section and Parks and Recreation Section). I would also like to thank the following local people and organizations who generously granted me permission to invade their property in pursuit of critters: Harry L. Laws, Troye Svendson, Augustine Bingham, George Richard, W. O. Bergeron, The Lloyd Lorio Estate, Jane Laycock Staples, Roger and Pamala Moore, Melodie Fairchild, Kevin Sharp, Cheryl and Mazoch Hedland, Louis A. Herbert, Marie Major, Neal Pourciau, Ruth Powers, Robert S. Tarver, Stanley and Susan Maxwell, James Creekmore, Irma Lee and Wilfred Fleming, Bobby Fulmer, Helen Beale, Parish of West Baton Rouge School Board (John Musso), Westport Investments (Bill Buzby), Dupont, Dupont and Dupont Investments (Joe Dupont Jr.), Carruth Scout Camp (Joe Farlow), Roy O. Martin and Georgina Hackney Lumber Companies (Chris Clayton), A. Wilbert’s Sons, L.L.C. (Vic Blanchard), and Immaculate Conception Church. I particularly thank Brian J. Costello, surely the world’s most knowledgeable tax collector. I am thankful to all the people and institutions that, either through aid in collecting or donation, helped me obtained tissue for use in this project: C. J. Hayden, Jamie Oaks, Jeff Boundy, Heather Jackson, Ali Hamilton, Lora Smith, Eric Rittmeyer, John McVay, Leslie Rissler (University of Alabama Herpetological Collection), Rafe Brown (University of Kansas, Natural History Museum), Travis LaDuc (Texas Natural History Collections, Texas Memorial Museum), C. J. Franklin (University of Texas at Arlington), Donna Dittmann (Louisiana State iii University, Museum of Natural Science), and Janet Braun (Oklahoma Collection of Genomic Resources, Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History). Funding for this project was provided by the following sources: the National Science Foundation, the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science, Sigma Xi, the Department of Energy, and the Louisiana State University Department of Biological Sciences Travel, McDaniel, and Graduate Student Organization Awards. This study was carried out under LSU IACUC protocol # 07-014. Thanks to Travis Glenn, Stacey Lance, and Cris Hagen at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory for assistance in generating the microsatellite library and to Dean Leavitt for use of unpublished primers. Lab work was facilitated by assistance from Susan Murray, Nanette Crochett, Liz Derryberry, and Haw Chuan Lim. Analysis was benefited by computational assistance from Wan Lee, Curt Burney, High Performance Computing at Louisiana State University, and the Computational Biology Service Unit at Cornell University. I am appreciative of the support I received from Louisiana State University staff and particularly thank Tammie Jackson and Prissy Milligan. I am grateful for the advice and friendship of fellow graduate students in the department and particularly note other members of the Austin Lab: Ali Hamilton, Jamie Oaks, C. J. Hayden, Jesse Grismer, John McVay, and Eric Rittmeyer. Finally, I acknowledge the significance of Heather Bird Jackson, who not only provided professional assistance in the form of statistical advice, lessons in R programming, proof-reading of manuscripts, and a keen eye in the field, but has contributed profoundly to my general well- being and nerve-keeping throughout. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................................. ii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1 2: MICROSATELLITES ISOLATED FROM THE NORTH AMERICAN GROUND SKINK (SCINCELLA LATERALIS) ............................................................................ 8 3: THE COMBINED EFFECTS OF RIVERS AND REFUGIA GENERATE EXTREME CRYPTIC FRAGMENTATION WITHIN THE COMMON GROUND SKINK (SCINCELLA LATERALIS) ........................................................ 13 4: INFERRING HIERARCHICAL POPULATION GENETIC STRUCTURE WITHIN A LIZARD SPECIES COMPRISED OF CRYPTIC, INCOMPLETELY- SORTED LINEAGES (GENUS SCINCELLA) ......................................................... 53 5: EXAMINING THE SOURCE OF PERMEABILITY IN A RIVERINE BARRIER USING POPULATIONS OF THE COMMON GROUND SKINK (SCINCELLA LATERALIS) .............................................................................................................. 90 6: CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................................................... 123 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................... 127 APPENDIX A: SAMPLES USED IN CHAPTER 3 ........................................................................ 150 B: LOCALITIES SAMPLED FOR CHAPTER 3 ....................................................... 161 C: DESCRIPTION OF NUCLEAR HAPLOTYPES .................................................. 163 D: SAMPLES USED IN CHAPTER 4 ........................................................................ 165 E: LOCALITIES SAMPLED FOR CHAPTER 5 ....................................................... 168 E: PERMISSION FROM CONSERVATION GENETICS RESOURCES .................... 169 F: PERMISSION FROM EVOLUTION ...................................................................... 171 VITA ........................................................................................................................................... 175 v ABSTRACT The geographical range, abundance, and cohesion of populations can track landscape and climatic dynamism in ways that help set (and reset) the evolutionary trajectory of a species. Understanding the nature of this interaction can elucidate both evolutionary and geographical