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Yosemite toad (Anaxyrus canorus) transcriptome reveals interplay between speciation genes and adaptive introgression Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-03-16 Paul A. Maier, Amy G. Vandergast, Andrew J. Bohonak
Genomes are heterogeneous during the early stages of speciation, with small ‘islands’ of DNA appearing to reflect strong adaptive differences, surrounded by vast seas of relative homogeneity. As species diverge, secondary contact zones between them can act as an interface and selectively filter through advantageous alleles of hybrid origin. Such introgression is another important adaptive process,
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Symbiosis modulates gene expression of symbionts, but not coral hosts, under thermal challenge Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-03-16 Hannah E. Aichelman, Alexa K. Huzar, Daniel M. Wuitchik, Kathryn F. Atherton, Rachel M. Wright, Groves Dixon, E. Schlatter, Nicole Haftel, Sarah W. Davies
Increasing ocean temperatures are causing dysbiosis between coral hosts and their symbionts. Previous work suggests that coral host gene expression responds more strongly to environmental stress compared to their intracellular symbionts; however, the causes and consequences of this phenomenon remain untested. We hypothesized that symbionts are less responsive because hosts modulate symbiont environments
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Ecological characteristics explain neutral genetic variation of three coastal sparrow species Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-03-14 Logan M. Maxwell, Jonathan D. Clark, Jennifer Walsh, Meaghan Conway, Brian J. Olsen, Adrienne I. Kovach
Eco‐phylogeographic approaches to comparative population genetic analyses allow for the inclusion of intrinsic influences as drivers of intraspecific genetic structure. This insight into microevolutionary processes, including changes within a species or lineage, provides better mechanistic understanding of species‐specific interactions and enables predictions of evolutionary responses to environmental
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Does urbanisation lead to parallel demographic shifts across the world in a cosmopolitan plant? Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-03-12 Aude E. Caizergues, James S. Santangelo, Rob W. Ness, Fabio Angeoletto, Daniel N. Anstett, Julia Anstett, Fernanda Baena‐Diaz, Elizabeth J. Carlen, Jaime A. Chaves, Mattheau S. Comerford, Karen Dyson, Mohsen Falahati‐Anbaran, Mark D. E. Fellowes, Kathryn A. Hodgins, Glen Ray Hood, Carlos Iñiguez‐Armijos, Nicholas J. Kooyers, Adrián Lázaro‐Lobo, Angela T. Moles, Jason Munshi‐South, Juraj Paule, Ilga
Urbanisation is occurring globally, leading to dramatic environmental changes that are altering the ecology and evolution of species. In particular, the expansion of human infrastructure and the loss and fragmentation of natural habitats in cities is predicted to increase genetic drift and reduce gene flow by reducing the size and connectivity of populations. Alternatively, the ‘urban facilitation
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Expression of concern: Natural copy number variation of tandemly repeated regulatory SNORD RNAs leads to individual phenotypic differences in mice Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-03-11
Keshavarz, M., Savriama, Y., Refki, P., Reeves, R. G., & Tautz, D. (2021). Natural copy number variation of tandemly repeated regulatory SNORD RNAs leads to individual phenotypic differences in mice. Molecular Ecology, 30, 4708–4722. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.16076This expression of concern is for the above article, published online on 12 July 2021 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com)
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Population genomics of flat‐tailed horned lizards (Phrynosoma mcallii) informs conservation and management across a fragmented Colorado Desert landscape Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-03-06 Andrew D. Gottscho, Daniel G. Mulcahy, Adam D. Leaché, Kevin de Queiroz, Robert E. Lovich
Phrynosoma mcallii (flat‐tailed horned lizards) is a species of conservation concern in the Colorado Desert of the United States and Mexico. We analysed ddRADseq data from 45 lizards to estimate population structure, infer phylogeny, identify migration barriers, map genetic diversity hotspots, and model demography. We identified the Colorado River as the main geographic feature contributing to population
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Severe hurricanes increase recruitment and gene flow in the clonal sponge Aplysina cauliformis Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-03-06 Iris Segura‐García, Julie B. Olson, Deborah J. Gochfeld, Marilyn E. Brandt, Andia Chaves‐Fonnegra
Upright branching sponges, such as Aplysina cauliformis, provide critical three‐dimensional habitat for other organisms and assist in stabilizing coral reef substrata, but are highly susceptible to breakage during storms. Breakage can increase sponge fragmentation, contributing to population clonality and inbreeding. Conversely, storms could provide opportunities for new genotypes to enter populations
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An inquiline mosquito modulates microbial diversity and function in an aquatic microecosystem Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-03-05 Aldo A. Arellano, Erica B. Young, Kerri L. Coon
Understanding microbial roles in ecosystem function requires integrating microscopic processes into food webs. The carnivorous pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea, offers a tractable study system where diverse food webs of macroinvertebrates and microbes facilitate digestion of captured insect prey, releasing nutrients supporting the food web and host plant. However, how interactions between these macroinvertebrate
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Considerable genetic diversity and structure despite narrow endemism and limited ecological specialization in the Hayden's ringlet, Coenonympha haydenii Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-03-05 Amy L. Springer, Zachariah Gompert
Understanding the processes that underlie the development of population genetic structure is central to the study of evolution. Patterns of genetic structure, in turn, can reveal signatures of isolation by distance (IBD), barriers to gene flow, or even the genesis of speciation. However, it is unclear how severe range restriction might impact the processes that dominate the development of genetic structure
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Gene co‐expression patterns in Atlantic salmon adipose tissue provide a molecular link among seasonal changes, energy balance and age at maturity Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-03-02 Ehsan Pashay Ahi, Jukka‐Pekka Verta, Johanna Kurko, Annukka Ruokolainen, Pooja Singh, Paul Vincent Debes, Jaakko Erkinaro, Craig R. Primmer
Sexual maturation in many fishes requires a major physiological change that involves a rapid transition between energy storage and usage. In Atlantic salmon, this transition for the initiation of maturation is tightly controlled by seasonality and requires a high‐energy status. Lipid metabolism is at the heart of this transition since lipids are the main energy storing molecules. The balance between
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Microbiome diversity and zoonotic bacterial pathogen prevalence in Peromyscus mice from agricultural landscapes and synanthropic habitat Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-03-02 Janine Mistrick, Evan J. Kipp, Sarah I. Weinberg, Collin C. Adams, Peter A. Larsen, Meggan E. Craft
Rodents are key reservoirs of zoonotic pathogens and play an important role in disease transmission to humans. Importantly, anthropogenic land‐use change has been found to increase the abundance of rodents that thrive in human‐built environments (synanthropic rodents), particularly rodent reservoirs of zoonotic disease. Anthropogenic environments also affect the microbiome of synanthropic wildlife
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Contribution of combined stressors on density and gene expression dynamics of the copepod Temora longicornis in the North Sea Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-03-01 Ilias Semmouri, Karel A. C. De Schamphelaere, Filip Van Nieuwerburgh, Dieter Deforce, Colin R. Janssen, Jana Asselman
The impact of multiple environmental and anthropogenic stressors on the marine environment remains poorly understood. Therefore, we studied the contribution of environmental variables to the densities and gene expression of the dominant zooplankton species in the Belgian part of the North Sea, the calanoid copepod Temora longicornis. We observed a reduced density of copepods, which were also smaller
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The opposed forces of differentiation and admixture across glacial cycles in the butterfly Aglais urticae Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-02-29 Valéria Marques, Joan Carles Hinojosa, Leonardo Dapporto, Gerard Talavera, Constantí Stefanescu, David Gutiérrez, Roger Vila
Glacial cycles lead to periodic population interbreeding and isolation in warm‐adapted species, which impact genetic structure and evolution. However, the effects of these processes on highly mobile and more cold‐tolerant species are not well understood. This study aims to shed light on the phylogeographic history of Aglais urticae, a butterfly species with considerable dispersal ability, and a wide
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Soil microbial subcommunity assembly mechanisms are highly variable and intimately linked to their ecological and functional traits Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-02-29 Qiuping Fan, Kaifang Liu, Zelin Wang, Dong Liu, Ting Li, Haiyan Hou, Zejin Zhang, Danhong Chen, Song Zhang, Anlan Yu, Yongcui Deng, Xiaoyong Cui, Rongxiao Che
Revealing the mechanisms underlying soil microbial community assembly is a fundamental objective in molecular ecology. However, despite increasing body of research on overall microbial community assembly mechanisms, our understanding of subcommunity assembly mechanisms for different prokaryotic and fungal taxa remains limited. Here, soils were collected from more than 100 sites across southwestern
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Genomic underpinnings of head and body shape in Arctic charr ecomorph pairs Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-02-29 Sam Fenton, Arne Jacobs, Colin W. Bean, Colin E. Adams, Kathryn R. Elmer
Across its Holarctic range, Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) populations have diverged into distinct trophic specialists across independent replicate lakes. The major aspect of divergence between ecomorphs is in head shape and body shape, which are ecomorphological traits reflecting niche use. However, whether the genomic underpinnings of these parallel divergences are consistent across replicates
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Population genomics of harbour seal Phoca vitulina from northern British Columbia through California and comparison to the Atlantic subspecies Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-02-29 Ben J. G. Sutherland, Claire Rycroft, Ashtin Duguid, Terry D. Beacham, Strahan Tucker
The harbour seal Phoca vitulina is a ubiquitous pinniped species found throughout coastal waters of the Northern Hemisphere. Harbour seal impacts on ecosystem dynamics may be significant due to their high abundance and food web position. Two subspecies exist in North America, P. v. richardii in the Pacific Ocean and P. v. vitulina in the Atlantic. Strong natal philopatry of harbour seals can result
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Plant–pollinator network architecture does not impact intraspecific microbiome variability Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-02-28 Gordon P. Smith, Hamutahl Cohen, Jocelyn F. Zorn, Quinn S. McFrederick, Lauren C. Ponisio
Variation in how individuals interact with food resources can directly impact, and be affected by, their microbial interactions due to the potential for transmission. The degree to which this transmission occurs, however, may depend on the structure of forager networks, which determine the community‐scale transmission opportunities. In particular, how the community‐scale opportunity for transfer balances
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The interplay of local adaptation and gene flow may lead to the formation of supergenes Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-02-28 Paul Jay, Thomas G. Aubier, Mathieu Joron
Supergenes are genetic architectures resulting in the segregation of alternative combinations of alleles underlying complex phenotypes. The co‐segregation of alleles at linked loci is often facilitated by polymorphic chromosomal rearrangements suppressing recombination locally. Supergenes are involved in many complex polymorphisms, including sexual, colour or behavioural polymorphisms in numerous plants
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Hybridization and gene expression: Beyond differentially expressed genes Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-02-27 Anna Runemark, Emily C. Moore, Erica L. Larson
Gene expression has a key role in reproductive isolation, and studies of hybrid gene expression have identified mechanisms causing hybrid sterility. Here, we review the evidence for altered gene expression following hybridization and outline the mechanisms shown to contribute to altered gene expression in hybrids. Transgressive gene expression, transcending that of both parental species, is pervasive
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The genetic basis of dispersal in a vertebrate metapopulation Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-02-23 Dilan Saatoglu, Sarah L. Lundregan, Evelyn Fetterplace, Debora Goedert, Arild Husby, Alina K. Niskanen, Stefanie Muff, Henrik Jensen
Dispersal affects evolutionary processes by changing population size and genetic composition, influencing the viability and persistence of populations. Investigating which mechanisms underlie variation in dispersal phenotypes and whether populations harbour adaptive potential for dispersal is crucial to understanding the eco-evolutionary dynamics of this important trait. Here, we investigate the genetic
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Speciation across biomes: Rapid diversification with reproductive isolation in the Australian delicate mice Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-02-22 Emily Roycroft, Fred Ford, Till Ramm, Rhiannon Schembri, William G. Breed, Phoebe A. Burns, Kevin C. Rowe, Craig Moritz
Phylogeographic studies of continental clades, especially when combined with palaeoclimate modelling, provide powerful insight into how environment drives speciation across climatic contexts. Australia, a continent characterized by disparate modern biomes and dynamic climate change, provides diverse opportunity to reconstruct the impact of past and present environments on diversification. Here, we
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Dissecting the genetic architecture of quantitative traits using genome‐wide identity‐by‐descent sharing Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-02-21 Antoine Fraimout, Frédéric Guillaume, Zitong Li, Mikko J. Sillanpää, Pasi Rastas, Juha Merilä
Additive and dominance genetic variances underlying the expression of quantitative traits are important quantities for predicting short‐term responses to selection, but they are notoriously challenging to estimate in most non‐model wild populations. Specifically, large‐sized or panmictic populations may be characterized by low variance in genetic relatedness among individuals which, in turn, can prevent
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Sex-specific effects of inbreeding in juvenile brown trout Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-02-15 Jonas Bylemans, Lucas Marques da Cunha, Sonia Sarmiento Cabello, David Nusbaumer, Anshu Uppal, Claus Wedekind
Inbreeding depression, that is, the reduction of health and vigour in individuals with high inbreeding coefficients, is expected to increase with environmental, social, or physiological stress. It has therefore been predicted that sexual selection and the associated stress usually lead to higher inbreeding depression in males than in females. However, sex-specific differences in life history may reverse
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The burden of anthropogenic changes and mutation load in a critically endangered harrier from the Reunion biodiversity hotspot, Circus maillardi Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-02-19 Yann Bourgeois, Ben H. Warren, Steve Augiron
Anthropogenic impact is causing the decline of a large proportion of species worldwide and reduces their genetic diversity. Island species typically have smaller ranges than continental species. As a consequence, island species are particularly liable to undergo population bottlenecks, giving rise to conservation challenges such as inbreeding and unmasking of deleterious genetic load. Such challenges
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Genetic basis of variation in thermal developmental plasticity for Drosophila melanogaster body pigmentation Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-02-16 E. Lafuente, D. Duneau, P. Beldade
Seasonal differences in insect pigmentation are attributed to the influence of ambient temperature on pigmentation development. This thermal plasticity is adaptive and heritable, and thereby capable of evolving. However, the specific genes contributing to the variation in plasticity that can drive its evolution remain largely unknown. To address this, we analysed pigmentation and pigmentation plasticity
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Paternal starvation affects metabolic gene expression during zebrafish offspring development and lifelong fitness Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-02-15 Ada Jimenez-Gonzalez, Federico Ansaloni, Constance Nebendahl, Ghazal Alavioon, David Murray, Weronika Robak, Remo Sanges, Ferenc Müller, Simone Immler
Dietary restriction in the form of fasting is a putative key to a healthier and longer life, but these benefits may come at a trade-off with reproductive fitness and may affect the following generation(s). The potential inter- and transgenerational effects of long-term fasting and starvation are particularly poorly understood in vertebrates when they originate from the paternal line. We utilised the
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The impact of parental and developmental stress on DNA methylation in the avian hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-02-11 Stefanie J. Siller Wilks, Britt J. Heidinger, David F. Westneat, Joseph Solomon, Dustin R. Rubenstein
The hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis coordinates an organism's response to environmental stress. The responsiveness and sensitivity of an offspring's stress response may be shaped not only by stressors encountered in their early post-natal environment but also by stressors in their parent's environment. Yet, few studies have considered how stressors encountered in both of these early life
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Population genetics of animals in the wild to aid conservation: Uma Ramakrishnan—Recipient of the 2023 Molecular Ecology Prize Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-02-10 V. V. Robin
Uma Ramakrishnan grew up on an academic campus—the Indian Institute of Science (IISc)—where her father was a chemistry professor. Campus life provided her early exposure to scientists, particularly the ecologists at the Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES), IISc, where she hoped, one day, to be a faculty member herself. As luck would have it, she returned after her academic training to become a faculty
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Plasmodium falciparum transmission in the highlands of Ethiopia is driven by closely related and clonal parasites Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-02-09 Aurel Holzschuh, Yalemwork Ewnetu, Lise Carlier, Anita Lerch, Inna Gerlovina, Sarah Cate Baker, Delenasaw Yewhalaw, Werissaw Haileselassie, Nega Berhane, Wossenseged Lemma, Cristian Koepfli
Malaria cases are frequently recorded in the Ethiopian highlands even at altitudes above 2000 m. The epidemiology of malaria in the Ethiopian highlands, and, in particular, the role of importation by human migration from the highly endemic lowlands is not well understood. We sequenced 187 Plasmodium falciparum samples from two sites in the Ethiopian highlands, Gondar (n = 159) and Ziway (n = 28), using
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Host avian species and environmental conditions influence the microbial ecology of brood parasitic brown-headed cowbird nestlings: What rules the roost? Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-02-07 Elizabeth N. Rudzki, Nicholas D. Antonson, Todd M. Jones, Wendy M. Schelsky, Brian K. Trevelline, Mark E. Hauber, Kevin D. Kohl
The role of species interactions, as well as genetic and environmental factors, all likely contribute to the composition and structure of the gut microbiome; however, disentangling these independent factors under field conditions represents a challenge for a functional understanding of gut microbial ecology. Avian brood parasites provide unique opportunities to investigate these questions, as brood
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Positive selection in gamete interaction proteins in Carnivora Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-02-06 Francisco Pisciottano, María Clara Campos, Clementina Penna, Carlos David Bruque, Toni Gabaldón, Patricia Saragüeta
The absence of robust interspecific isolation barriers among pantherines, including the iconic South American jaguar (Panthera onca), led us to study molecular evolution of typically rapidly evolving reproductive proteins within this subfamily and related groups. In this study, we delved into the evolutionary forces acting on the zona pellucida (ZP) gamete interaction protein family and the sperm-oocyte
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Divergent island hybrids mixed waves of ancient gene flow Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-02-02 Silu Wang
In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Salter et al. (2023) discovered that the Cuban Northern Bobwhite subspecies, Colinus virginianus cubanensis (Gould, 1850), is an ancient hybrid population formed due to historical hybridization potentially brought by waves of historical human migration. This study revealed a complex mixture of gene flow from distinct spatiotemporal origins underlying a seemingly
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Whole genome sequencing reveals stepping-stone dispersal buffered against founder effects in a range expanding seabird Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-02-01 Rachael W. Herman, Gemma Clucas, Jane Younger, John Bates, Bryce Robinson, Sushma Reddy, Julia Stepanuk, Katie O'Brien, Krishna Veeramah, Heather J. Lynch
Many species are shifting their ranges in response to climate-driven environmental changes, particularly in high-latitude regions. However, the patterns of dispersal and colonization during range shifting events are not always clear. Understanding how populations are connected through space and time can reveal how species navigate a changing environment. Here, we present a fine-scale population genomics
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Corrigendum Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-01-31
The authors wish to note an error in the article entitled “Genome-scale signatures of adaptive gene expression changes in an invasive seaweed Gracilaria vermiculophylla” published in Molecular Ecology (2023), 32(3), 613-627. In the section of discussion, we described “Therefore, our detected upregulation of HSP 90-2 (Table S11) and Na+-ATPase (Table S13) reinforces the work of Hammann et al. (2016)
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Global mesozooplankton communities show lower connectivity in deep oceanic layers Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-01-29 Oriol Canals, Jon Corell, Ernesto Villarino, Guillem Chust, Eva Aylagas, Iñaki Mendibil, Craig T. Michell, Juan Ignacio González-Gordillo, Xabier Irigoien, Naiara Rodríguez-Ezpeleta
Mesozooplankton is a key component of the ocean, regulating global processes such as the carbon pump, and ensuring energy transfer from lower to higher trophic levels. Yet, knowledge on mesozooplankton diversity, distribution and connectivity at global scale is still fragmented. To fill this gap, we applied DNA metabarcoding to mesozooplankton samples collected during the Malaspina-2010 circumnavigation
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Maternally derived avian corticosterone affects offspring genome-wide DNA methylation in a passerine species Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-01-30 Anna Miltiadous, Damien L. Callahan, Antoine M. Dujon, Katherine L. Buchanan, Lee A. Rollins
Avian embryos develop in an egg composition which reflects both maternal condition and the recent environment of their mother. In birds, yolk corticosterone (CORT) influences development by impacting pre- and postnatal growth, as well as nestling stress responses and development. One possible mechanism through which maternal CORT may affect offspring development is via changes to offspring DNA methylation
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Highly clustered mating networks in naturally fragmented riparian tree populations Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-01-30 Eva Moracho, Etienne K. Klein, Sylvie Oddou-Muratorio, Arndt Hampe, Pedro Jordano
Understanding how spatial patterns of mating and gene flow respond to habitat loss and geographical isolation is a crucial aspect of forest fragmentation genetics. Naturally fragmented riparian tree populations exhibit unique characteristics that significantly influence these patterns. In this study, we investigate mating patterns, pollen-mediated gene flow, and genetic diversity in relict populations
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Divergence and gene flow history at two large chromosomal inversions underlying ecotype differentiation in the long-snouted seahorse Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-01-27 Laura Meyer, Pierre Barry, Florentine Riquet, Andrew Foote, Clio Der Sarkissian, Regina L. Cunha, Christine Arbiol, Frédérique Cerqueira, Erick Desmarais, Anaïs Bordes, Nicolas Bierne, Bruno Guinand, Pierre-Alexandre Gagnaire
Chromosomal inversions can play an important role in divergence and reproductive isolation by building and maintaining distinct allelic combinations between evolutionary lineages. Alternatively, they can take the form of balanced polymorphisms that segregate within populations until one arrangement becomes fixed. Many questions remain about how inversion polymorphisms arise, how they are maintained
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A palaeogenomic investigation of overharvest implications in an endemic wild reindeer subspecies Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-01-27 Fabian L. Kellner, Mathilde Le Moullec, Martin R. Ellegaard, Jørgen Rosvold, Bart Peeters, Hamish A. Burnett, Åshild Ønvik Pedersen, Jaelle C. Brealey, Nicolas Dussex, Vanessa C. Bieker, Brage B. Hansen, Michael D. Martin
Overharvest can severely reduce the abundance and distribution of a species and thereby impact its genetic diversity and threaten its future viability. Overharvest remains an ongoing issue for Arctic mammals, which due to climate change now also confront one of the fastest changing environments on Earth. The high-arctic Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus), endemic to Svalbard, experienced
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Topographic barriers drive the pronounced genetic subdivision of a range-limited fossorial rodent Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-01-26 Victoria M. Reuber, Michael V. Westbury, Alba Rey-Iglesia, Addisu Asefa, Nina Farwig, Georg Miehe, Lars Opgenoorth, Radim Šumbera, Luise Wraase, Tilaye Wube, Eline D. Lorenzen, Dana G. Schabo
Due to their limited dispersal ability, fossorial species with predominantly belowground activity usually show increased levels of population subdivision across relatively small spatial scales. This may be exacerbated in harsh mountain ecosystems, where landscape geomorphology limits species' dispersal ability and leads to small effective population sizes, making species relatively vulnerable to environmental
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Dinucleotide biases in the genomes of prokaryotic and eukaryotic dsDNA viruses and their hosts Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-01-23 Diego Forni, Uberto Pozzoli, Rachele Cagliani, Manuela Sironi
The genomes of cellular organisms display CpG and TpA dinucleotide composition biases. Such biases have been poorly investigated in dsDNA viruses. Here, we show that in dsDNA virus, bacterial, and eukaryotic genomes, the representation of TpA and CpG dinucleotides is strongly dependent on genomic G + C content. Thus, the classical observed/expected ratios do not fully capture dinucleotide biases across
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Evolution of gene expression across brain regions in behaviourally divergent deer mice Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-01-23 Andreas F. Kautt, Jenny Chen, Caitlin L. Lewarch, Caroline Hu, Kyle Turner, Jean-Marc Lassance, Felix Baier, Nicole L. Bedford, Andres Bendesky, Hopi E. Hoekstra
The evolution of innate behaviours is ultimately due to genetic variation likely acting in the nervous system. Gene regulation may be particularly important because it can evolve in a modular brain-region specific fashion through the concerted action of cis- and trans-regulatory changes. Here, to investigate transcriptional variation and its regulatory basis across the brain, we perform RNA sequencing
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Genetic basis and expression of ventral colour in polymorphic common lizards Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-01-24 Hans Recknagel, Henrique G. Leitão, Kathryn R. Elmer
Colour is an important visual cue that can correlate with sex, behaviour, life history or ecological strategies, and has evolved divergently and convergently across animal lineages. Its genetic basis in non-model organisms is rarely known, but such information is vital for determining the drivers and mechanisms of colour evolution. Leveraging genetic admixture in a rare contact zone between oviparous
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Heat-tolerant intertidal rock pool coral Porites lutea can potentially adapt to future warming Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-01-24 Wen Huang, Linqing Meng, Zunyong Xiao, Ronghua Tan, Enguang Yang, Yonggang Wang, Xueyong Huang, Kefu Yu
The growing threat of global warming on coral reefs underscores the urgency of identifying heat-tolerant corals and discovering their adaptation mechanisms to high temperatures. Corals growing in intertidal rock pools that vary markedly in daily temperature may have improved heat tolerance. In this study, heat stress experiments were performed on scleractinian coral Porites lutea from subtidal habitat
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Diel metabolic patterns revealed by in situ transcriptome and proteome in a vertically migratory copepod Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-01-22 Amy E. Maas, Emma Timmins-Schiffman, Ann M. Tarrant, Brook L. Nunn, Jea Park, Leocadio Blanco-Bercial
Zooplankton undergo a diel vertical migration (DVM) which exposes them to gradients of light, temperature, oxygen, and food availability on a predictable daily schedule. Disentangling the co-varying and potentially synergistic interactions on metabolic rates has proven difficult, despite the importance of this migration for the delivery of metabolic waste products to the distinctly different daytime
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The genomic consequences of selection across development Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-01-21 Maddie E. James, Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos
Understanding how natural selection drives diversification in nature has been at the forefront of biological research for over a century. The main idea is simple: natural selection favours individuals best suited to pass on their genes. However, the journey from birth to reproduction is complex as organisms experience multiple developmental stages, each influenced by genetic and environmental factors
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Diving into the diversity of colour patterns in reef fishes Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-01-21 Bruno Frédérich
Colours and associated patterns are probably some of the most obvious phenotypic traits in animals and reef teleost fishes are often cited as a textbook example for illustrating this type of diversity. Even if it is well established that colour patterns play a central role in the ecology and evolution of reef fishes, we still lack the necessary toolkits to fully grasp the mechanisms driving the diversification
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Lizard host abundances and climatic factors explain phylogenetic diversity and prevalence of blood parasites on an oceanic island Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-01-19 Rodrigo Megía-Palma, Gemma Palomar, Javier Martínez, Bernardo Antunes, Katarzyna Dudek, Anamarija Žagar, Nina Serén, Miguel A. Carretero, Wiesław Babik, Santiago Merino
Host abundance might favour the maintenance of a high phylogenetic diversity of some parasites via rapid transmission rates. Blood parasites of insular lizards represent a good model to test this hypothesis because these parasites can be particularly prevalent in islands and host lizards highly abundant. We applied deep amplicon sequencing and analysed environmental predictors of blood parasite prevalence
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Genetic structure, UV-vision, wing coloration and size coincide with colour polymorphism in Fabriciana adippe butterflies Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-01-19 Daniela Polic, Yeşerin Yıldırım, Sami Merilaita, Markus Franzén, Anders Forsman
Colour polymorphisms have long served as model systems in evolutionary studies and continue to inform about processes involved in the origin and dynamics of biodiversity. Modern sequencing tools allow for evaluating whether phenotypic differences between morphs reflect genetic differentiation rather than developmental plasticity, and for investigating whether polymorphisms represent intermediate stages
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Unravelling the mystery of endemic versus translocated populations of the endangered Australian lungfish (Neoceratodus forsteri) Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-01-19 Roberto Biello, Silvia Ghirotto, Daniel J. Schmidt, Silvia Fuselli, David T. Roberts, Tom Espinoza, Jane M. Hughes, Giorgio Bertorelle
The Australian lungfish is a primitive and endangered representative of the subclass Dipnoi. The distribution of this species is limited to south-east Queensland, with some populations considered endemic and others possibly descending from translocations in the late nineteenth century shortly after European discovery. Attempts to resolve the historical distribution of this species have met with conflicting
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Demographic history and genomic signatures of selection in a widespread vertebrate ectotherm Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-01-18 Jessica M. Judson, Luke A. Hoekstra, Fredric J. Janzen
Environmental conditions vary greatly across large geographic ranges, and yet certain species inhabit entire continents. In such species, genomic sequencing can inform our understanding of colonization history and the impact of selection on the genome as populations experience diverse local environments. As ectothermic vertebrates are among the most vulnerable to environmental change, it is critical
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Reproductive isolation in a three-way contact zone Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-01-18 Laura L. Dean, James R. Whiting, Felicity C. Jones, Andrew D. C. MacColl
Contact zones between divergent forms within a species provide insight into the role of gene flow in adaptation and speciation. Previous work has focused on contact zones involving only two divergent forms, but in nature, many more than two populations may overlap simultaneously and experience gene flow. Patterns of introgression in wild populations are, therefore, likely much more complicated than
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Genetic architecture of ecological divergence between Oryza rufipogon and Oryza nivara Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-01-17 Qing-Lin Meng, Cheng-Gen Qiang, Ji-Long Li, Mu-Fan Geng, Ning-Ning Ren, Zhe Cai, Mei-Xia Wang, Zi-Hui Jiao, Fu-Min Zhang, Xian-Jun Song, Song Ge
Ecological divergence due to habitat difference plays a prominent role in the formation of new species, but the genetic architecture during ecological speciation and the mechanism underlying phenotypic divergence remain less understood. Two wild ancestors of rice (Oryza rufipogon and Oryza nivara) are a progenitor-derivative species pair with ecological divergence and provide a unique system for studying
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Effect of marine heatwaves and warming on kelp microbiota influence trophic interactions Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-01-17 Louise C. Castro, Adriana Vergés, Sandra C. Straub, Alexandra H. Campbell, Melinda A. Coleman, Thomas Wernberg, Peter Steinberg, Torsten Thomas, Symon Dworjanyn, Paulina Cetina-Heredia, Moninya Roughan, Ezequiel M. Marzinelli
The range-expansion of tropical herbivores due to ocean warming can profoundly alter temperate reef communities by overgrazing the seaweed forests that underpin them. Such ecological interactions may be mediated by changes to seaweed-associated microbiota in response to warming, but empirical evidence demonstrating this is rare. We experimentally simulated ocean warming and marine heatwaves (MHWs)
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Urbanization reduces gut bacterial microbiome diversity in a specialist ground beetle, Carabus convexus Mol. Ecol. (IF 4.9) Pub Date : 2024-01-12 Tibor Magura, Szabolcs Mizser, Roland Horváth, Mária Tóth, István Likó, Gábor L. Lövei
Urbanization is rapidly shaping and transforming natural environments, creating networks of modified land types. These urbanization-driven modifications lead to local extinctions of several species, but the surviving ones also face numerous novel selection pressures, including exposure to pollutants, habitat alteration, and shifts in food availability and diversity. Based on the assumption that the