Abstract
South Africa is a biodiverse region containing three biomes of exceptional endemism with the climatic and geological changes since the Pliocene/Pleistocene driving much of this extant diversity. South Africa therefore compares to other geologically and climatically diverse regions worldwide in harbouring complex genetic patterns within both taxonomic (invertebrates, reptiles, amphibians, mammals and fish) and ecological groups (aquatic, saxicolous, fossorial and terrestrial) and with multiple regions acting as phylogeograhic disruptors. Given these historical spatiotemporal changes in the climatic and geological landscapes, South Africa therefore offers the opportunity to assess the effects of such changes on contemporary genetic diversity under a holistic approach which includes ecological and biological data. Indeed, the distribution of genetic variation is determined through the interaction of biotic (the mating system, ecology, habitat specificity, dispersal capability and distribution of animals) and abiotic (historical climate and geological change) factors. One niche in which the interplay of these factors may theoretically be assessed, is the fossorial/subterranean niche which is intimately linked with the evolution of the landscape. The specialized animals inhabiting this niche have adaptations (morphological and behavioural) which decreases vagility and with spatiotemporally disjunct preferred habitat patches. These factors consequently impinge of genetic diversity, genetic structure and speciation. Among the fossorial taxa, the Bathyergidae is a group of subterranean rodents that are endemic to sub-Saharan Africa and exhibit disjunct distributions across this range at both the generic and specific level. Due to their permanently subterranean life-style, this group therefore offers an enticing opportunity to investigate the patterns and process at play in driving isolation and speciation in the fossorial niche...
Ph.D. (Zoology)