Full circumpolar migration ensures evolutionary unity in the Emperor penguin

• Published in: Nature Communications
• Main Authors: Cristofari, Robin, Bertorelle, Giorgio, Ancel, André, Benazzo, Andrea, Le Maho, Yvon, Ponganis, Paul J., Stenseth, Nils Chr, Trathan, Phil N., Whittington, Jason D., Zanetti, Enrico, Zitterbart, Daniel P., Le Bohec, Céline, Trucchi, Emiliano
• Other Authors: Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie (DEPE-IPHC), Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), Department of Biosciences Oslo, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences Oslo, University of Oslo (UiO)-University of Oslo (UiO)-Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences Oslo, University of Oslo (UiO)-University of Oslo (UiO), Centre Scientifique de Monaco (CSM), Department of Biology, Università degli Studi di Ferrara (UniFE), Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine, University of California, British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (AWI), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Biophysics Laboratory University of Vienna, IPEV (programme 137);FP7-PEOPLE-IEF-2008;FP7-PEOPLE-IEF-2010;Centre Scientifique de Monaco, ANR-10-BLAN-1728,PICASO,Les manchots bio-indicateurs de la vulnérabilité de l'Océan austral(2010)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes; [SDV.GEN.GPO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Genetics/Populations and Evolution [q-bio.PE]; [SDV.EE.BIO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology; environment/Bioclimatology; Antarctic; Antarc*; Aptenodytes forsteri
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01331960; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01331960/document; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01331960/file/ncomms11842.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11842

International audience Defining reliable demographic models is essential to understand the threats of ongoing environmental change. Yet, in the most remote and threatened areas, models are often based on the survey of a single population, assuming stationarity and independence in population responses. This is the case for the Emperor penguin Aptenodytes forsteri, a flagship Antarctic species that may be at high risk continent-wide before 2100. Here, using genome-wide data from the whole Antarctic continent, we reveal that this top-predator is organized as one single global population with a shared demography since the late Quaternary. We refute the view of the local population as a relevant demographic unit, and highlight that (i) robust extinction risk estimations are only possible by including dispersal rates and (ii) colony-scaled population size is rather indicative of local stochastic events, whereas the species’ response to global environmental change is likely to follow a shared evolutionary trajectory.