The results of this study offer the opportunity for new insights on the complex relationship between genetic distance, ecological divergence, call divergence and mate preferences.
In contrast, when the species occur in sympatry, reproductive character displacement appears to occur leading to strongly divergent call patterns compared to divergence in calls of allopatric or parapatric populations.
Dr. Ni said in a statement that the findings represent "the first time that we have a reasonably complete picture of a primate close to the divergence," calling it "a big step forward in our efforts to chart the course of the earliest phases of primate and human evolution".
This divergence calls for special treatment of these substrates per species in analysis and applications.
Recently, a metric for expression divergence called Local Network Similarity LNSS) was proposed to assess expression conservation of a pair of orthologs [ 20].
Three simulation trees representing different levels of evolutionary divergence, called EnsTr1, EnsTr2 and EnsTr3, were created by multiplying the branch lengths by 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5.
In our case, the lack of nuclear and morphological divergence calls for deeper studies on the mechanism causing high mitochondrial divergence and whether it is the result of host-associated divergence, geography, selective sweeps or a combination of factors.
However, more detailed studies of feeding morphology in G. fultoni and G. vernalis will be necessary to understand the role, if any, of ECD in promoting divergence in calling song characters and mirror area in areas of sympatry.
Fixation of advantageous mutations usually leads to evolutionary innovations and species divergences (so called 'positive or diversifying selection'), while the removal of deleterious alleles or mutations maintains the natural fitness of species (so called 'negative or purifying selection').
Such a divergence is called a "negative split," and a variance of that magnitude is as common as snow in Miami.
