Ricardo Pereira
PhD Student
Broadly, I am interested in speciation and in the establishment of genetic barriers between species. I'm mostly interested in the study of hybrid zones dynamics and how landscape features condition the admixture between two differentiated genomes. For my Master research I applied a fine scale analysis of Lacerta schreiberi, an Iberian endemic lizard with two highly divergent evolutionary groups that established secondary contact in a less suitable area of its distribution, using a combination of GIS tools and molecular markers. For my PhD thesis I will apply a genome-wide molecular study in three selected hybrid zones that result from the recent contact of lineages of the plethodontid salamander ring species Ensatina eschscholtzii with different degrees of divergence.