Genomic variation in montane bumblebees in Scandinavia: High levels of intraspecific diversity despite population vulnerability
Abstract Populations of many bumblebee species are declining, with distributions shifting northwards to track suitable climates. Climate change is considered a major contributing factor. Arctic species are particularly vulnerable as they cannot shift further north, making assessment of their populat...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.17251 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/mec.17251 |
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crwiley:10.1111/mec.17251 2024-03-24T08:59:43+00:00 Genomic variation in montane bumblebees in Scandinavia: High levels of intraspecific diversity despite population vulnerability Liu, Yuanzhen Olsson, Anna Larva, Tuuli Cantwell‐Jones, Aoife Gill, Richard J. Cederberg, Björn Webster, Matthew T. Vetenskapsrådet Naturvårdsverket 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.17251 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/mec.17251 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Molecular Ecology volume 33, issue 4 ISSN 0962-1083 1365-294X Genetics Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 2023 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.17251 2024-02-28T02:10:03Z Abstract Populations of many bumblebee species are declining, with distributions shifting northwards to track suitable climates. Climate change is considered a major contributing factor. Arctic species are particularly vulnerable as they cannot shift further north, making assessment of their population viability important. Analysis of levels of whole‐genome variation is a powerful way to analyse population declines and fragmentation. Here, we use genome sequencing to analyse genetic variation in seven species of bumblebee from the Scandinavian mountains, including two classified as vulnerable. We sequenced 333 samples from across the ranges of these species in Sweden. Estimates of effective population size ( N E ) vary from ~55,000 for species with restricted high alpine distributions to 220,000 for more widespread species. Population fragmentation is generally very low or undetectable over large distances in the mountains, suggesting an absence of barriers to gene flow. The relatively high N E and low population structure indicate that none of the species are at immediate risk of negative genetic effects caused by high levels of genetic drift. However, reconstruction of historical fluctuations in N E indicates that the arctic specialist species Bombus hyperboreus has experienced population declines since the last ice age and we detected one highly inbred diploid male of this species close to the southern limit of its range, potentially indicating elevated genetic load. Although the levels of genetic variation in montane bumblebee populations are currently relatively high, their ranges are predicted to shrink drastically due to the effects of climate change and monitoring is essential to detect future population declines. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Climate change Wiley Online Library Arctic Molecular Ecology |
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Wiley Online Library |
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language |
English |
topic |
Genetics Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
spellingShingle |
Genetics Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Liu, Yuanzhen Olsson, Anna Larva, Tuuli Cantwell‐Jones, Aoife Gill, Richard J. Cederberg, Björn Webster, Matthew T. Genomic variation in montane bumblebees in Scandinavia: High levels of intraspecific diversity despite population vulnerability |
topic_facet |
Genetics Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
Abstract Populations of many bumblebee species are declining, with distributions shifting northwards to track suitable climates. Climate change is considered a major contributing factor. Arctic species are particularly vulnerable as they cannot shift further north, making assessment of their population viability important. Analysis of levels of whole‐genome variation is a powerful way to analyse population declines and fragmentation. Here, we use genome sequencing to analyse genetic variation in seven species of bumblebee from the Scandinavian mountains, including two classified as vulnerable. We sequenced 333 samples from across the ranges of these species in Sweden. Estimates of effective population size ( N E ) vary from ~55,000 for species with restricted high alpine distributions to 220,000 for more widespread species. Population fragmentation is generally very low or undetectable over large distances in the mountains, suggesting an absence of barriers to gene flow. The relatively high N E and low population structure indicate that none of the species are at immediate risk of negative genetic effects caused by high levels of genetic drift. However, reconstruction of historical fluctuations in N E indicates that the arctic specialist species Bombus hyperboreus has experienced population declines since the last ice age and we detected one highly inbred diploid male of this species close to the southern limit of its range, potentially indicating elevated genetic load. Although the levels of genetic variation in montane bumblebee populations are currently relatively high, their ranges are predicted to shrink drastically due to the effects of climate change and monitoring is essential to detect future population declines. |
author2 |
Vetenskapsrådet Naturvårdsverket |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Liu, Yuanzhen Olsson, Anna Larva, Tuuli Cantwell‐Jones, Aoife Gill, Richard J. Cederberg, Björn Webster, Matthew T. |
author_facet |
Liu, Yuanzhen Olsson, Anna Larva, Tuuli Cantwell‐Jones, Aoife Gill, Richard J. Cederberg, Björn Webster, Matthew T. |
author_sort |
Liu, Yuanzhen |
title |
Genomic variation in montane bumblebees in Scandinavia: High levels of intraspecific diversity despite population vulnerability |
title_short |
Genomic variation in montane bumblebees in Scandinavia: High levels of intraspecific diversity despite population vulnerability |
title_full |
Genomic variation in montane bumblebees in Scandinavia: High levels of intraspecific diversity despite population vulnerability |
title_fullStr |
Genomic variation in montane bumblebees in Scandinavia: High levels of intraspecific diversity despite population vulnerability |
title_full_unstemmed |
Genomic variation in montane bumblebees in Scandinavia: High levels of intraspecific diversity despite population vulnerability |
title_sort |
genomic variation in montane bumblebees in scandinavia: high levels of intraspecific diversity despite population vulnerability |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.17251 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/mec.17251 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Climate change |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change |
op_source |
Molecular Ecology volume 33, issue 4 ISSN 0962-1083 1365-294X |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.17251 |
container_title |
Molecular Ecology |
_version_ |
1794399595587960832 |