Spatial Heterogeneity as a Genetic Mixing Mechanism in Highly Philopatric Colonial Seabirds
How genetic diversity is maintained in philopatric colonial systems remains unclear, and understanding the dynamic balance of philopatry and dispersal at all spatial scales is essential to the study of the evolution of coloniality. In the King penguin, Aptenodytes patagonicus, return rates of post-f...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:4332635 2023-05-15T17:03:57+02:00 Spatial Heterogeneity as a Genetic Mixing Mechanism in Highly Philopatric Colonial Seabirds Cristofari, Robin Trucchi, Emiliano Whittington, Jason D. Vigetta, Stéphanie Gachot-Neveu, Hélène Stenseth, Nils Christian Le Maho, Yvon Le Bohec, Céline 2015-02-13 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4332635 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25680103 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0117981 en eng Public Library of Science http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25680103 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0117981 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited CC-BY Research Article Text 2015 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0117981 2015-03-01T01:01:16Z How genetic diversity is maintained in philopatric colonial systems remains unclear, and understanding the dynamic balance of philopatry and dispersal at all spatial scales is essential to the study of the evolution of coloniality. In the King penguin, Aptenodytes patagonicus, return rates of post-fledging chicks to their natal sub-colony are remarkably high. Empirical studies have shown that adults return year after year to their previous breeding territories within a radius of a few meters. Yet, little reliable data are available on intra- and inter-colonial dispersal in this species. Here, we present the first fine-scale study of the genetic structure in a king penguin colony in the Crozet Archipelago. Samples were collected from individual chicks and analysed at 8 microsatellite loci. Precise geolocation data of hatching sites and selective pressures associated with habitat features were recorded for all sampling locations. We found that despite strong natal and breeding site fidelity, king penguins retain a high degree of panmixia and genetic diversity. Yet, genetic structure appears markedly heterogeneous across the colony, with higher-than-expected inbreeding levels, and local inbreeding and relatedness hotspots that overlap predicted higher-quality nesting locations. This points towards heterogeneous population structure at the sub-colony level, in which fine-scale environmental features drive local philopatric behaviour, while lower-quality patches may act as genetic mixing mechanisms at the colony level. These findings show how a lack of global genetic structuring can emerge from small-scale heterogeneity in ecological parameters, as opposed to the classical model of homogeneous dispersal. Our results also emphasize the importance of sampling design for estimation of population parameters in colonial seabirds, as at high spatial resolution, basic genetic features are shown to be location-dependent. Finally, this study stresses the importance of understanding intra-colonial dispersal and genetic mixing ... Text King Penguins PubMed Central (PMC) PLOS ONE 10 2 e0117981 |
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Research Article Cristofari, Robin Trucchi, Emiliano Whittington, Jason D. Vigetta, Stéphanie Gachot-Neveu, Hélène Stenseth, Nils Christian Le Maho, Yvon Le Bohec, Céline Spatial Heterogeneity as a Genetic Mixing Mechanism in Highly Philopatric Colonial Seabirds |
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Research Article |
description |
How genetic diversity is maintained in philopatric colonial systems remains unclear, and understanding the dynamic balance of philopatry and dispersal at all spatial scales is essential to the study of the evolution of coloniality. In the King penguin, Aptenodytes patagonicus, return rates of post-fledging chicks to their natal sub-colony are remarkably high. Empirical studies have shown that adults return year after year to their previous breeding territories within a radius of a few meters. Yet, little reliable data are available on intra- and inter-colonial dispersal in this species. Here, we present the first fine-scale study of the genetic structure in a king penguin colony in the Crozet Archipelago. Samples were collected from individual chicks and analysed at 8 microsatellite loci. Precise geolocation data of hatching sites and selective pressures associated with habitat features were recorded for all sampling locations. We found that despite strong natal and breeding site fidelity, king penguins retain a high degree of panmixia and genetic diversity. Yet, genetic structure appears markedly heterogeneous across the colony, with higher-than-expected inbreeding levels, and local inbreeding and relatedness hotspots that overlap predicted higher-quality nesting locations. This points towards heterogeneous population structure at the sub-colony level, in which fine-scale environmental features drive local philopatric behaviour, while lower-quality patches may act as genetic mixing mechanisms at the colony level. These findings show how a lack of global genetic structuring can emerge from small-scale heterogeneity in ecological parameters, as opposed to the classical model of homogeneous dispersal. Our results also emphasize the importance of sampling design for estimation of population parameters in colonial seabirds, as at high spatial resolution, basic genetic features are shown to be location-dependent. Finally, this study stresses the importance of understanding intra-colonial dispersal and genetic mixing ... |
format |
Text |
author |
Cristofari, Robin Trucchi, Emiliano Whittington, Jason D. Vigetta, Stéphanie Gachot-Neveu, Hélène Stenseth, Nils Christian Le Maho, Yvon Le Bohec, Céline |
author_facet |
Cristofari, Robin Trucchi, Emiliano Whittington, Jason D. Vigetta, Stéphanie Gachot-Neveu, Hélène Stenseth, Nils Christian Le Maho, Yvon Le Bohec, Céline |
author_sort |
Cristofari, Robin |
title |
Spatial Heterogeneity as a Genetic Mixing Mechanism in Highly Philopatric Colonial Seabirds |
title_short |
Spatial Heterogeneity as a Genetic Mixing Mechanism in Highly Philopatric Colonial Seabirds |
title_full |
Spatial Heterogeneity as a Genetic Mixing Mechanism in Highly Philopatric Colonial Seabirds |
title_fullStr |
Spatial Heterogeneity as a Genetic Mixing Mechanism in Highly Philopatric Colonial Seabirds |
title_full_unstemmed |
Spatial Heterogeneity as a Genetic Mixing Mechanism in Highly Philopatric Colonial Seabirds |
title_sort |
spatial heterogeneity as a genetic mixing mechanism in highly philopatric colonial seabirds |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4332635 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25680103 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0117981 |
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King Penguins |
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King Penguins |
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25680103 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0117981 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited |
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CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0117981 |
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PLOS ONE |
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10 |
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2 |
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e0117981 |
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