A recent invasive population of the European starling sturnus vulgaris has lower genetic diversity and higher fluctuating asymmetry than primary invasive and native populations

Author(s):  
Vanina D. Fiorini ◽  
Marisol Domínguez ◽  
Juan C. Reboreda ◽  
John P. Swaddle
Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1094
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Sergeevna Osipova ◽  
Anna Yurievna Stepanova ◽  
Dmitry Viktorovich Tereshonok ◽  
Evgeny Aleksandrovich Gladkov ◽  
Olga Nikolaevna Vysotskaya

In our study, two aggressive-invasive species, Lupinus polyphyllus Lindl. and Heracleum sosnowskyi Manden. from Russia and Ukraine, were investigated. The success in naturalization of both species is associated with human activities, since they have been used in agriculture and floriculture and both have qualities such as environmental tolerance, high fertility and phenotypic plasticity. The purpose of this study was to determine the level of genetic diversity of both species. For Heracleum sosnowskyi Manden., genetic diversity was compared in invasive and native populations. For Lupinus polyphyllus Lindl., the genetic diversity was compared in variety, feral and invasive populations. A genetic diversity was formulated using RAPD, ISSR and REMAP. For Heracleum sosnowskyi Manden., the average genetic diversity within the invasive population was similar (0.432), but slightly less (0.502) than within the native Caucasian population. This may suggest the successful naturalization of invaders and almost complete reconstruction of their genetic diversity. For Lupinus polyphyllus Lindl., the genetic diversity for the invasive population was the highest, with an average of 0.294, while for variety, it was the lowest, with an average of 0.194. The feral population had an intermediate place with an average of 0.248, which could suggest an increase of diversity in the process of naturalization.


Heredity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Axel Jensen ◽  
Mette Lillie ◽  
Kristofer Bergström ◽  
Per Larsson ◽  
Jacob Höglund

AbstractThe use of genetic markers in the context of conservation is largely being outcompeted by whole-genome data. Comparative studies between the two are sparse, and the knowledge about potential effects of this methodology shift is limited. Here, we used whole-genome sequencing data to assess the genetic status of peripheral populations of the wels catfish (Silurus glanis), and discuss the results in light of a recent microsatellite study of the same populations. The Swedish populations of the wels catfish have suffered from severe declines during the last centuries and persists in only a few isolated water systems. Fragmented populations generally are at greater risk of extinction, for example due to loss of genetic diversity, and may thus require conservation actions. We sequenced individuals from the three remaining native populations (Båven, Emån, and Möckeln) and one reintroduced population of admixed origin (Helge å), and found that genetic diversity was highest in Emån but low overall, with strong differentiation among the populations. No signature of recent inbreeding was found, but a considerable number of short runs of homozygosity were present in all populations, likely linked to historically small population sizes and bottleneck events. Genetic substructure within any of the native populations was at best weak. Individuals from the admixed population Helge å shared most genetic ancestry with the Båven population (72%). Our results are largely in agreement with the microsatellite study, and stresses the need to protect these isolated populations at the northern edge of the distribution of the species.


2019 ◽  
Vol 97 (3) ◽  
pp. 225-231
Author(s):  
T.D. Williams ◽  
A. Cornell ◽  
C. Gillespie ◽  
A. Hura ◽  
M. Serota

Diet specialization has important consequences for how individuals or species deal with environmental change that causes changes in availability of prey species. We took advantage of a “natural experiment” — establishment of a commercial insect farm — that introduced a novel prey item, black soldier flies (Hermetia illucens (Linnaeus, 1758)), to the diet-specialist European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758). We investigated evidence for individual diet specialization (IDS) and the consequences of diet specialization and exploitation of novel prey on breeding productivity. In all 4 years of our study, tipulid larvae were the most common prey item. Soldier flies were not recorded in diets in 2013–2014; however, coincident with the establishment of the commercial insect farming operation, they comprised 22% and 30% of all prey items in the diets of European Starling females and males, respectively, in 2015. There was marked individual variation in use of soldier flies (4%–48% and 2%–70% in females and males, respectively), but we found little evidence of dichotomous IDS, i.e., where only some individuals have a specialized diet. We found no evidence for negative effects of use of soldier flies on breeding productivity: brood size at fledging and chick quality (mass, tarsus length) were independent of the number and proportion (%) of soldier flies returned to the nest.


Rodriguésia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liliana Aparecida Ribeiro Martins ◽  
Rodrigo Monte Lorenzoni ◽  
Ronald Martins Pereira Júnior ◽  
Fábio Demolinari de Miranda ◽  
Milene Miranda Praça Fontes ◽  
...  

Abstract Plant species that show gregarious spatial distribution and endemism to the Atlantic Forest, such as Dorstenia elata, are particularly sensitive to the effects of genetic diversity loss. In the present study, we aimed to quantify the genetic diversity in native populations of this species in an Atlantic Forest remnant. The sample included three aggregates of individuals, and molecular characterization was performed with twelve ISSR primers. Intrapopulation analyses were based on the calculation of the Shannon index; total expected heterozygosity and the matrix of distances between pairs of individuals were also calculated. The obtained grouping dendrogram evinced the formation of two groups. Interpopulation investigations were based on the analysis of molecular variance and the estimate of historical gene flow. The results demonstrate that one group comprised the genotypes from two subpopulations, and the other contained exclusively the genotypes of a third subpopulation. The greatest genetic variability was observed within rather than among populations, indicating that the geographical distance and the road that divides the studied populations are not causing loss of genetic diversity.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Rodriguez ◽  
Giuseppe La Gioia ◽  
Patricia Le Quilliec ◽  
Damien Fourcy ◽  
Philippe Clergeau

Global change, which regroups global warming, landscape transformations and other anthropic modifications of ecosystems, has effects on populations and communities and produces modifications in the expansion area of species. While some species disappear, other ones are beneficiated by the new conditions and some of them evolve in new adapted forms or leave their ancient distribution area. As climate change tends to increase the temperature in several regions of the world, some species have been seen to leave areas in equatorial regions in order to join colder areas either towards the north of the northern hemisphere or towards the south of the southern one. Many birds as have moved geographically in direction to the poles and in many cases they have anticipated their laying dates. Actually, two tit species that use to lay their eggs in a period that their fledging dates synchronize with the emerging dates of caterpillars are now evolving to reproductive in periods earlier than before the climate change. Several species are reacting like that and other ones are moving to the north in Europe for example. Nevertheless, and very curiously, European starling, Sturnus vulgaris, populations are behaving on the contrary: their laying dates are moving towards later spring and their distribution area is moving towards the south. In this study we explore and discuss about different factors that may explain this difference from other birds.


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