ASSESSMENT OF GENETIC INFORMATION IN MORPHOMETRIC TRAITS - GEOGRAPHICPATTERNS AND EVOLUTIONARY INTERPRETATION

Comparative studies often indicate a lack of concordant geographic pat terns for morphometric and genic traits. Herein, it is shown that the genetic variance of morphometric traits can be partitioned into within - and among-group components as is traditionally done with genic data. Employing these methods demonstrates that there is considerable congr uence for estimates of differentiation from genic and morphometric dat a for populations of the Texas mouse, Peromyscus attwateri. Within-gro up genetic variances of morphometric traits, relative to that of genic traits, also can be estimated. From these estimates, a pseudo-heritab ility can be obtained. Pseudo-heritabilities generally are low, indica ting that evolutionary forces have removed much of the genetic variati on within groups, or that environmental variation is considerable for morphometric traits. The combined use of genic and morphometric traits offer greater insight into past evolution that has lead to geographic patterns.