Population genomics of the European turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur)

CALDERÓN LUCIANO; LEONARDO CAMPAGNA; TOM WILKE; HERVÉ LORMÉE; YVES CHEREL; DUNN JENNY; ROCHA GREGORIO; ZEHTINDJIEY PAVEL; BAKALOUDIS DIMITRIOS; METZGER BENJAMIN; CECERE JACOPO; MARX MELANIE; PETRA QUILLFEDLT

Valle Hermoso, Cordoba

Congreso; 1era Reunion Argentina de Biologia Evolutiva; 2015

Universidad Nacional de Cordoba

IntroductionThe European turtle dove (ETD) is the only long distance migrant among European columbids; it breeds throughout Europe and overwinters across central Africa. Mark-recapture data has shown that this species uses three main flyways to move between Europe and Africa, a western migration route over the Iberian Peninsula, a central route over Italy and Malta, and an eastern route through Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey (Marx et al. in press). The ETD is a widely distributed and abundant species across Europe (del Hoyo et al. 1997); however, recent reports indicate that it has been declining since 1970s (BirdLife International 2004). Here we used a genome wide approach to investigate the population genetic structure of the European turtle dove. We analyzed our data in the context of migratory divides as possible speciation drivers (Irwin and Irwin 2003); according to this model we expected to find significant genetic differences among individuals that use different migration routes. We also investigated the demographic history of the ETD to test for a genetic signal of the decline that this species is undergoing.MethodsWe obtained blood samples from banded individuals or tissue samples from the wings of hunted individuals. Our sampling scheme encompassed the three main migratory flyways of the ETD. Western migrants n=48 (United Kingdom, France and Spain), central migrants n=27 (Germany, Italy and Malta) and eastern migrants n=29 (Greece and Bulgaria). For all sampled individuals we obtained partial sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene and we also generated double-digest restriction site associated DNA (RAD) markers (Peterson et al. 2012). Sequences were assembled into loci using the Columba livia genome as reference. We employed the STACKS (Catchen et al. 2013) bioinformatics pipelines to assemble loci and call single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Population genetic structure was investigated using STRUCTURE v2.3.3 (Pritchard et al. 2000). We also studied the demographic history using the extended Bayesian skyline plot (EBSP) analysis implemented in BEAST (Drummond & Rambaut 2007.DiscusionWe obtained ~1500 RAD loci spread across the genome containing several SNPs per locus, and ~800 bp fragment of the cytochrome b gene for all individuals. STRUCTURE analysis suggested four genetic clusters (K=4), although these clusters did not reflect the migratory flyways or any other geographic pattern. On the other hand, the EBSP analysis suggested a strong increase in the population effective size (Ne) that started ~15000 years ago and continues until the present (Fig. 1). This demographic expansion coincides with the end of the last glacial maximum, when most species expanded their ranges and population sizes (Hewitt 2000).ConclusionsOur genome wide analysis of the ETD provides evidence of a post-glacial demographic expansion and a lack of genetic structure associated to the migratory flyways of this species. If these flyways are indeed responsible for genetically isolating individuals, the effect of the large Ne on incomplete lineage sorting suggests that it may take a long time for differences to be fixed among putative populations.