Forest snail faunas from Georgian Transcaucasia: patterns of diversity in a Pleistocene refugium
- B. Pokryszko, R. Cameron, L. Mumladze, D. Tarkhnishvili
- Environmental Science
- 1 February 2011
Thirty forest sites in Georgia were sampled to obtain inventories of their land snail faunas. The sites, in nine sampling areas, ranged from Batumi near the Turkish border to Lagodekhi near the…
Geographic and genetic boundaries of brown bear (Ursus arctos) population in the Caucasus
- M. Murtskhvaladze, A. Gavashelishvili, D. Tarkhnishvili
- BiologyMolecular Ecology
- 1 May 2010
It is suggested that all Caucasian bears belong to the nominal subspecies of Ursus arctos, and the low genetic differentiation inferred from microsatellite allele frequencies indicates that gene flow between the two populations in the Caucasus is maintained through the movements of male brown bears.
Historical Biogeography of the Caucasus
- D. Tarkhnishvili
- Environmental Science
- 5 November 2014
The Caucasus is a mountain region located at the edge of Europe and Asia, between the Black and Caspian seas. In spite of limited geography and mostly temperate climate, diversity of natural…
Palaeoclimatic models help to understand current distribution of Caucasian forest species
- D. Tarkhnishvili, A. Gavashelishvili, L. Mumladze
- Environmental Science, Geography
- 2012
The results suggest that the projection of suitable habitat models onto past climatic conditions may yield realistic boundaries of glacialRefugia, and that the current distribution of forest species in the study region is strongly associated with locations of former refugia.
Pre-pleistocene refugia and differentiation between populations of the caucasian salamander (Mertensiella caucasica).
- D. Tarkhnishvili, R. Thorpe, J. Arntzen
- BiologyMolecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
- 1 March 2000
A 350-bp fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome-b gene was sequenced in the Caucasian salamander, Mertensiella caucasica, representing 10 populations from across its range along the Black Sea coast, showing parallel patterns in body proportions and coloration patterns.
Humid forest refugia, speciation and secondary introgression between evolutionary lineages: differentiation in a Near Eastern brown frog, Rana macrocnemis
- D. Tarkhnishvili, A. Hille, W. Böhme
- Biology
- 1 October 2001
The geographic distribution of characters of external morphology, alleles at three polymorphic allozyme loci and mitochondrial DNA haplotypes showed a highly congruent pattern in a limited area of humid forests in the south-west Caucasus, revealing whether or not the forms represent monophyletic evolutionary lineages.
Modelling the range of Syrian spadefoot toad ( Pelobates syriacus ) with combination of GIS-based approaches
- D. Tarkhnishvili, I. Serbinova, A. Gavashelishvili
- Environmental Science
- 2009
Breeding pond preferences of P. syriacus were particularly similar to those of the lake frog (Rana ridibunda), although the latter species uses appropriate habitats more extensively, and the model predicted large areas north of the actual range.
Unisexual rock lizard might be outcompeting its bisexual progenitors in the Caucasus
- D. Tarkhnishvili, A. Gavashelishvili, A. Avaliani, M. Murtskhvaladze, L. Mumladze
- Environmental Science
- 1 October 2010
The parthenogen is a stronger competitor than the bisexual breeders and potential advantages of the bisexual reproduction remain unrealized in the given temporal and spatial scale to explain domination of bisexually breeding lizards on the global scale.
Gene flow between wolf and shepherd dog populations in Georgia (Caucasus).
- N. Kopaliani, M. Shakarashvili, Z. Gurielidze, Tamar Qurkhuli, D. Tarkhnishvili
- BiologyJournal of Heredity
- 1 May 2014
The results of the study suggest that wolf-dog hybridization is a common event in the areas where large livestock guarding dogs are held in a traditional way, and that gene flow between dogs and gray wolves was an important force influencing gene pool of dogs for millennia since early domestication events.
Biomes and human distribution during the last ice age
- A. Gavashelishvili, D. Tarkhnishvili
- Environmental Science, Biology
- 1 May 2016
In a metapopulation of Palaeolithic humans, the biome of savanna and dry woodland supported source populations and other biomes acted as sinks, and in the post-glacial period there has not been enough time for displacements and admixture of human populations to completely blur these differences.
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