Arley Camargo

Brigham Young University

Program: PhD in Integrative Biology

Advisor: Dr. Jack Sites

Taxonomic Focus: Lizards

Address: 177 WIDB, Provo, UT, 84604
Phone: 1 (801) 422-2203
E-mail: arley_camargo@byu.net

Research:

My dissertation deals with the phylogeographic structure within several species complexes of the lizard genus Liolaemus from Patagonia. I use molecular (sequence and microsatellite) and morphological data from specimens collected at selected localities across Patagonia to test previously proposed species boundaries, and then apply several coalescent-based methods to infer demographic and vicariant (e. g., speciation) events during the recent past. I focus much of this work on the Liolaemus darwini complex, but the ultimate goal is to understand how historical processes in Patagonia (e. g., Andean uplift, marine transgressions, Pleistocene glaciations, etc.) have fostered speciation and shaped the spatial patterns of genetic diversity in the focal Liolaemus species.

Moreover, I am also interested in addressing the association between speciation rates and the degree of sexual selection in selected species groups of Liolaemus showing striking variation in sexual dimorphism, using comparative phylogenetic methods.

Related Publications:

Academic Background:

Biography:

Born in 1977 in Montevideo, Uruguay. I studied trophic and reproductive ecology of Uruguayan amphibians in my undergraduate research project. In my master’s thesis, I evaluated species limits in frogs currently recognized as Leptodactylus fuscus based on the phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequences. I have been teaching amphibian biology and doing research on the ecology and taxonomy of frogs in my faculty position in Universidad de la Republica.