Data from: Genetic structure in the European endemic seabird, Phalacrocorax aristotelis, was shaped by a complex interaction of historical and contemporary, physical and non-physical drivers ...

• Main Authors: Thanou, Evanthia, Sponza, Stefano, Nelson, Emily J., Perry, Annika, Wanless, Sarah, Daunt, Francis, Cavers, Stephen
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2016
• Subjects: Suliformes; Pleistocene refugia; Phalacrocorax aristotelis; Phalacrocoracidae; European seabird; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.b85pj; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.b85pj

Geographically separated populations tend to be less connected by gene flow, as a result of physical or non-physical barriers preventing dispersal, and this can lead to genetic structure. In this context, highly mobile organisms such as seabirds are interesting because the small effect of physical barriers means non-physical ones may be relatively more important. Here we use microsatellite and mitochondrial data to explore the genetic structure and phylogeography of Atlantic and Mediterranean populations of a European endemic seabird, the European Shag, Phalacrocorax aristotelis, and identify the primary drivers of their diversification. Analyses of mitochondrial markers revealed three phylogenetic lineages grouping the North Atlantic, Spanish/Corsican and Eastern Mediterranean populations, apparently arising from fragmentation during the Pleistocene followed by range expansion. These traces of historical fragmentation were also evident in the genetic structure estimated by microsatellite markers, despite ... : MtDNA concatenated dataset with outgroupFasta file generated with CLUSTALX v.2 of 79 concatenated mtDNA (CR1 and ND2) shag sequences and 2 outgroup sequences, used in phylogenetic analyses.concatoutgroup.fasMolecular clock analysis of the shagInput file generated with BEAST v.1.8 used for the molecular clock analysis, under a relaxed clock of uncorrelated lognormal distribution model and a “Coalescent: Constant Size” prior on rates of cladogenesis.coalrelaxmolclock.xmlPopulation structure analysis using microsatellite dataInput files (including microsatellite raw data, estimation parameters and population labels) used in the STRUCTURE v.2.3.4 program to estimate the genetic structure of 28 shag populations.microsat structure.rar ...