Undergraduate_Spring_Festival_Shivani_Bhatt (1)
Systematics of Mountain Voles (Alticola) in Northern Pakistan
The mountain voles, genus Alticola, are a group of poorly understood high-elevation rodents. The world’s three largest mountain ranges converge in Northern Pakistan which allow us to examine possible allopatric speciation in mountain voles. We extracted DNA from 90 individuals through northern Pakistan and sequenced the cytochrome b gene. We recovered 5 clades that seem distinct enough to represent different species. The clades correspond to the major mountain ranges such as the Great Himalaya, the Karakoram, and the Indu Kush, which is telling a biogeographical story. Our results conflict with morphological characteristics which are variable within species. We appear to have evidence for a new species in the eastern Kohistan arc mountains.
A very professional presentation of information. I especially liked the usage of recording your voice for the presentation as I did not know that was possible to do. Great work Shivani and others who worked hard on his informative presentation of info.
I thought it was very interesting. It’s surprising that the genetic evidence seems to tell a story that’s slightly different from the one told by their morphology. And I’ve always found it neat to look at how geographical features drive speciation.
Great job, Shivani! I was very impressed, and I really enjoyed it.
Very interesting study. The presentation was very well narrated and it made it easy to follow along the slide deck.
Great job Shivani and team! 🙂
I found the presentation to be very interesting, especially the data that suggest the discovery of a potentially new species. Also, I found the effects of the surrounding mountain ranges and rivers on the evolutionary history and distribution of the species of interest as well.
Congratulations to Shivani and the other contributors to this project on a job well done!