![]() Gov't, P.H.S.England4 09:00Heredity (Edinb). The rock pocket mouse, Chaetodipus intermedius, usually lives in light-colored rocks and has a correspondingly light coloration (top left). Hoekstra, H EKrenz, J GNachman, M WengComparative StudyResearch Support, U.S. New Mexicos desert including lighter sands and darker lava rock. Scientists have been studying a species of Pocket Mouse called the Rock Pocket Mouse (Chaetodipus intermedius) to understand the mechanisms under which. Together, the results suggest that color variation can evolve very rapidly over small geographic scales and that gene flow can both hinder and promote local adaptation. The film introduces the pocket mice, who tends live in a variety of areas in. Natural selection and evolution of rock pocket mouse populations Grade Level(s): 13-16 Source: Howard Hughes Medical Institute Resource type: Classroom activity Time:50 minutes Overview This lesson serves as an extension to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute short film The Making of the Fittest: Natural Selection and Adaptation. ![]() Finally, we raise the possibility that, in some cases, migration between populations of pocket mice inhabiting different lava flows may be responsible for similar melanic phenotypes in different populations. The rock pocket mouse is a living example of Darwin’s process of natural selection. At a finer geographical scale, high levels of gene flow between neighboring melanic and light populations suggest the selection acting on color must be quite strong to maintain habitat-specific phenotypic distributions. The rock pocket mouse,Chaetodipus intermedius, exhibits weak rump spines (see Photo 1 and Photo 2) and has coarse fur. Using Mantel tests, we show that there is no correlation between color variation and mtDNA phylogeny, suggesting that pelage coloration has evolved rapidly. Analyses of mtDNA sequences from these same individuals revealed strong population structure in this species across its range, where most variation (63%) was partitioned between five geographic regions. First, we quantified variation in pelage color (n=107 mice) and habitat color (n=51 rocks) using a spectrophotometer, and showed that there was a correlation between pelage color and habitat color across 14 sampled populations (R2=0.43). Here, we investigate whether phenotypic variation in color is correlated with local environmental conditions or with phylogenetic history. Rock pocket mice, Chaeotdipus intermedius, are an ideal system in which to study intraspecific phenotypic divergence because of the extensive color variation observed within this species. Most of these mice have a sandy, light-colored coat that enables them to blend in with the light-colored desert rocks and sand on which they live. Elucidating the causes of population divergence is a central goal of evolutionary biology. The rock pocket mouse, Chaetodipus intermedius, a small, nocturnal animal, is found in the deserts of the southwestern United States.
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