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Biotic signals associated with benthic impacts of salmon farms from eDNA metabarcoding of sediments Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2021-01-22 Xiaoping He; Scott R. Gilmore; Terri F. Sutherland; Mehrdad Hajibabaei; Kristina M. Miller; Kristen M. Westfall; Jan Pawlowski; Cathryn L. Abbott
Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding can rapidly characterize the composition and diversity of benthic communities, thus it has high potential utility for routine assessments of benthic impacts of marine finfish farming. In this study, 126 sediment grab samples from 42 stations were collected at six salmon farms in British Columbia, Canada. Benthic community changes were assessed by both eDNA metabarcoding
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Genomic signatures of selection in bats surviving white‐nose syndrome Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2021-01-21 Sarah A. Gignoux‐Wolfsohn; Malin L. Pinsky; Kathleen Kerwin; Carl Herzog; MacKenzie Hall; Alyssa B. Bennett; Nina H. Fefferman; Brooke Maslo
Rapid evolution of advantageous traits following abrupt environmental change can help populations recover from demographic decline. However, for many introduced diseases affecting longer‐lived, slower reproducing hosts, mortality is likely to outpace the acquisition of adaptive de novo mutations. Adaptive alleles must therefore be selected from standing genetic variation, a process that leaves few
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Kinetochore proteins and microtubule‐destabilizing factors are fast evolving in eutherian mammals Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2021-01-21 Chiara Pontremoli; Diego Forni; Uberto Pozzoli; Mario Clerici; Rachele Cagliani; Manuela Sironi
Centromeres have central functions in chromosome segregation, but centromeric DNA and centromere‐binding proteins evolve rapidly in most eukaryotes. The selective pressure(s) underlying the fast evolution of centromere‐binding proteins are presently unknown. An attractive possibility is that selfish centromeres promote their preferential inclusion in the oocyte and centromeric proteins evolve to suppress
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Can laboratory evolution experiments teach us about natural populations? Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2021-01-07 Mark A. Phillips; Molly K. Burke
The ability to predict how natural populations will evolve and adapt to major changes in environmental conditions has long been of interest to evolutionary biologists and ecologists alike. The reality of global climate change has also created a pressing need for advancement in this particular area of research, as species are increasingly faced with rapid shifts in abiotic and biotic conditions. Evolutionary
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Phenotypic plasticity rather than genotype drives reproductive choices in Hydra populations Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2021-01-19 Máté Miklós; Levente Laczkó; Gábor Sramkó; Flóra Sebestyén; Zoltán Barta; Jácint Tökölyi
Facultative clonality is associated with complex life cycles where sexual and asexual forms can be exposed to contrasting selection pressures. Facultatively clonal animals often have distinct developmental capabilities that depend on reproductive mode (e.g. negligible senescence and exceptional regeneration ability in asexual individuals, which are lacking in sexual individuals). Understanding how
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Genome‐wide single nucleotide polymorphism markers reveal population structure and dispersal direction of an expanding nuisance algal bloom species Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2021-01-01 Karin Rengefors; Raphael Gollnisch; Ingrid Sassenhagen; Karolina Härnström Aloisi; Marie Svensson; Karen Lebret; Dora Čertnerová; William A. Cresko; Susan Bassham; Dag Ahrén
Species invasion and range expansion are currently under scrutiny due to increasing anthropogenic impact on the natural environment. This is also true for harmful algal blooms, which have been reported to have increased in frequency. However, this research is challenging due to the ephemeral nature, small size and mostly low concentrations of microalgae in the environment. One such species is the nuisance
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Post‐epizootic microbiome associations across communities of neotropical amphibians Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2021-01-07 Phillip Jervis; Pol Pintanel; Kevin Hopkins; Claudia Wierzbicki; Jennifer M.G. Shelton; Emily Skelly; Gonçalo M. Rosa; Diego Almeida‐Reinoso; Maria Eugenia‐Ordoñez; Santiago Ron; Xavier Harrison; Andrés Merino‐Viteri; Matthew C. Fisher
Microbiome–pathogen interactions are increasingly recognized as an important element of host immunity. While these host‐level interactions will have consequences for community disease dynamics, the factors which influence host microbiomes at larger scales are poorly understood. We here describe landscape‐scale pathogen–microbiome associations within the context of post‐epizootic amphibian chytridiomycosis
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Environmental correlates of genetic variation in the invasive European starling in North America Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2021-01-19 Natalie R. Hofmeister; Scott J. Werner; Irby J. Lovette
Populations of invasive species that colonize and spread in novel environments may differentiate both through demographic processes and local selection. European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) were introduced to New York in 1890 and subsequently spread throughout North America, becoming one of the most widespread and numerous bird species on the continent. Genome‐wide comparisons across starling individuals
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Genetic population structure constrains local adaptation in sticklebacks Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2021-01-19 Petri Kemppainen; Zitong Li; Pasi Rastas; Ari Löytynoja; Bohao Fang; Jing Yang; Baocheng Guo; Takahito Shikano; Juha Merilä
Repeated and independent adaptation to specific environmental conditions from standing genetic variation is common. However, if genetic variation is limited, the evolution of similar locally adapted traits may be restricted to genetically different and potentially less optimal solutions or prevented from happening altogether. Using a quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping approach, we identified the
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Telomere length is heritable and genetically correlated with lifespan in a wild bird Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2021-01-18 Oscar Vedder; Maria Moiron; Coraline Bichet; Christina Bauch; Simon Verhulst; Peter H. Becker; Sandra Bouwhuis
Telomeres are protective caps at the end of eukaryotic chromosomes that shorten with age and in response to stressful or resource‐demanding conditions. Their length predicts individual health and lifespan across a wide range of animals, but whether the observed positive association between telomere length and lifespan is environmentally induced, or set at conception due to a shared genetic basis, has
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Genetic relatedness in social groups of the emerald coral goby Paragobiodon xanthosoma creates potential for weak kin selection Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2021-01-18 T Rueger; PM Buston; SM Bogdanowicz; MY Wong
Animals forming social groups that include breeders and non‐breeders present evolutionary paradoxes; why do breeders tolerate non‐breeders? And why do non‐breeders tolerate their situation? Both paradoxes are often explained with kin selection. Kin selection is, however, assumed to play little or no role in social group formation of marine organisms with dispersive larval phases. Yet, in some marine
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Tissue‐specific transcription patterns support the kinship theory of intragenomic conflict in honey bees (Apis mellifera) Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-12-16 David A. Galbraith; Rong Ma; Christina M. Grozinger
Kin selection may act differently on genes inherited from parents (matrigenes and patrigenes), resulting in intragenomic conflict. This conflict can be observed as differential expression of matrigenes and patrigenes, or parent‐specific gene expression (PSGE). In honey bees (Apis mellifera), intragenomic conflict is hypothesized to occur in multiple social contexts. Previously, we found that patrigene‐biased
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Genomic landscape of geographically structured color polymorphism in a temperate marine fish Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2021-01-17 Laura Casas; Pablo Saenz‐Agudelo; David Villegas‐Ríos; Xabier Irigoien; Fran Saborido‐Rey
The study of phenotypic variation patterns among populations is fundamental to elucidate the drivers of evolutionary processes. Empirical evidence that supports ongoing genetic divergence associated with phenotypic variation remains very limited for marine species where larval dispersal is a common homogenizing force. We present a genome‐wide scale analysis of a marine fish ‐ Labrus bergylta – comprising
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Demography, genetic diversity and expansion load in the colonizing species Leontodon longirostris (Asteraceae) throughout its native range. Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2021-01-16 Manuel de Pedro; Miquel Riba; Santiago C. González‐Martínez; Pedro Seoane; Rocío Bautista; M. Gonzalo Claros; Maria Mayol
Unraveling the evolutionary processes underlying range expansions is fundamental to understand the distribution of organisms, as well as to predict their future responses to environmental change. Predictions for range expansions include a loss of genetic diversity and an accumulation of deleterious alleles along the expansion axis, which can decrease fitness at the range‐front (expansion load). In
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Rapid changes in DNA methylation associated with the initiation of reproduction in a small songbird Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2021-01-16 Melanie Lindner; Veronika N. Laine; Irene Verhagen; Heidi M. Viitaniemi; Marcel E. Visser; Kees van Oers; Arild Husby
Species with a circannual life cycle need to match the timing of their life history events to the environment to maximize fitness. But our understanding of how circannual traits such as timing of reproduction are regulated on a molecular level remains limited. Recent studies have implicated that epigenetic mechanisms can be an important part in the processes that regulate circannual traits. Here, we
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Intraspecific genomic variation and local adaptation in a young hybrid species Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-12-01 Angélica Cuevas; Mark Ravinet; Glenn‐Peter Sætre; Fabrice Eroukhmanoff
Hybridization increases genetic variation, hence hybrid species may have greater evolutionary potential once their admixed genomes have stabilized and incompatibilities have been purged. Yet, little is known about how such hybrid lineages evolve at the genomic level following their formation, in particular their adaptive potential. Here we investigate how the Italian sparrow (Passer italiae), a homoploid
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Pleistocene climate fluctuations drove demographic history of African golden wolves (Canis lupaster) Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-12-28 Carlos Sarabia; Bridgett vonHoldt; Juan C. Larrasoaña; Vicente Uríos; Jennifer A. Leonard
Pleistocene climate change impacted entire ecosystems throughout the world. In the northern hemisphere, the distribution of Arctic species expanded during glacial periods, while more temperate and mesic species contracted into climatic refugia, where isolation drove genetic divergence. Cycles of local cooling and warming in the Sahara region of northern Africa caused repeated contractions and expansions
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Uncovering endemism in a lake of invasive species introgression Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2021-01-15 Iva Popovic; Louis Bernatchez
Species distributions are rapidly being altered by human globalisation and movement. As species are moved across biogeographic boundaries, human‐mediated secondary contacts between historically allopatric taxa may promote hybridisation between closely related native and introduced species. The outcomes of hybridisation are diverse from strong reproductive barriers to gene flow to genome‐wide admixture
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Warming mediates the resistance of aquatic bacteria to invasion during community coalescence Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2021-01-14 Máté Vass; Anna J. Székely; Eva S. Lindström; Omneya A. Osman; Silke Langenheder
The immigration history of communities can profoundly affect community composition. For instance, early‐arriving species can have a lasting effect on community structure by reducing the invasion success of late‐arriving ones through priority effects. This can be particularly important when early‐arriving communities coalesce with another community during dispersal (mixing) events. However, the outcome
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Bacterial epibiont communities of panmictic Antarctic krill are spatially structured Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-12-09 Laurence J. Clarke; Léonie Suter; Rob King; Andrew Bissett; Sophie Bestley; Bruce E. Deagle
Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) are amongst the most abundant animals on Earth, with a circumpolar distribution in the Southern Ocean. Genetic and genomic studies have failed to detect any population structure for the species, suggesting a single panmictic population. However, the hyper‐abundance of krill slows the rate of genetic differentiation, masking potential underlying structure. Here we
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Population genomics in the arboviral vector Aedes aegypti reveals the genomic architecture and evolution of endogenous viral elements Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2021-01-12 Cristina M. Crava; Finny S. Varghese; Elisa Pischedda; Rebecca Halbach; Umberto Palatini; Michele Marconcini; Leila Gasmi; Seth Redmond; Yaw Afrane; Diego Ayala; Christophe Paupy; Rebeca Carballar‐Lejarazu; Pascal Miesen; Ronald P. van Rij; Mariangela Bonizzoni
Horizontal gene transfer from viruses to eukaryotic cells is a pervasive phenomenon. Somatic viral integrations are linked to persistent viral infection whereas integrations into germline cells are maintained in host genomes by vertical transmission and may be co‐opted for host functions. In the arboviral vector Aedes aegypti, an endogenous viral element from a non‐retroviral RNA virus (nrEVE) was
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Decade‐scale stability and change in a marine bivalve microbiome Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2021-01-12 Alexander T. Neu; Ian V. Hughes; Eric E. Allen; Kaustuv Roy
Predicting how populations and communities of organisms will respond to anthropogenic change is of paramount concern in ecology today. For communities of microorganisms, however, these predictions remain challenging, primarily due to data limitations. Information about long‐term dynamics of host‐associated microbial communities, in particular, are lacking. In this study, we use well‐preserved and freshly
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Connecting high‐throughput biodiversity inventories – opportunities for a site‐based genomic framework for global integration and synthesis Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2021-01-12 Paula Arribas; Carmelo Andújar; Martin I. Bidartondo; Kristine Bohmann; Éric Coissac; Simon Creer; Jeremy R. deWaard; Vasco Elbrecht; Gentile Francesco Ficetola; Marta Goberna; Susan Kennedy; Henrik Krehenwinkel; Florian Leese; Vojtech Novotny; Fredrik Ronquist; Douglas W. Yu; Lucie Zinger; Thomas J. Creedy; Emmanouil Meramveliotakis; Víctor Noguerales; Isaac Overcast; Hélène Morlon; Alfried P. Vogler;
High‐throughput sequencing (HTS) is increasingly being used for the characterisation and monitoring of biodiversity. If applied in a structured way, across broad geographic scales, it offers the potential for a much deeper understanding of global biodiversity through the integration of massive quantities of molecular inventory data generated independently at local, regional and global scales. The universality
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Nuclear eDNA estimates population allele frequencies and abundance in experimental mesocosms and field samples Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2021-01-12 Kara J. Andres; Suresh A. Sethi; David M. Lodge; Jose Andrés
Advances in environmental DNA (eDNA) methodologies have led to improvements in the ability to detect species and communities in aquatic environments, yet the majority of studies emphasize biological diversity at the species level by targeting variable sites within the mitochondrial genome. Here, we demonstrate that eDNA approaches also have the capacity to detect intraspecific diversity in the nuclear
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Type and intensity of surrounding human land use, not local environment, shape genetic structure of a native grassland plant Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-11-27 Sarah L. Emel; Shichen Wang; Richard P. Metz; Rachel B. Spigler
Landscape heterogeneity can shape genetic structure and functional connectivity of populations. When this heterogeneity imposes variable costs of moving across the landscape, populations can be structured according to a pattern of “isolation by resistance” (IBR). At the same time, divergent local environmental filters can limit gene flow, creating an alternative pattern of “isolation by environment”
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Thermal sensitivity of the Spiroplasma‐Drosophila hydei protective symbiosis: The best of climes, the worst of climes Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2021-01-11 Chris Corbin; Jordan E. Jones; Ewa Chrostek; Andy Fenton; Gregory D.D. Hurst
The outcome of natural enemy attack in insects is commonly influenced by the presence of protective symbionts in the host. The degree to which protection functions in natural populations, however, will depend on the robustness of the phenotype and symbiosis to variation in the abiotic environment. We studied the impact of a key environmental parameter – temperature – on the efficacy of the protective
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Two ways to be endemic. Alps and Apennines are different functional refugia during climatic cycles Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2021-01-09 Mattia Menchetti; Gerard Talavera; Alessandro Cini; Vania Salvati; Vlad Dincă; Leonardo Platania; Simona Bonelli; Emilio Balletto; Roger Vila; Leonardo Dapporto
Endemics co‐occur because they evolved in situ and persist regionally or because they evolved ex situ and later dispersed to shared habitats, generating evolutionary or ecological endemicity centres, respectively. We investigate whether different endemicity centres can intertwine in the region ranging from Alps to Sicily, by studying their butterfly fauna. We gathered an extensive occurrence dataset
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Genome‐wide variation in DNA methylation linked to developmental stage and chromosomal suppression of recombination in white‐throated sparrows Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2021-01-09 Dan Sun; Thomas S. Layman; Hyeonsoo Jeong; Paramita Chatterjee; Kathleen Grogan; Jennifer R. Merritt; Donna L. Maney; Soojin V. Yi
Much of our knowledge on regulatory impacts of DNA methylation has come from laboratory‐bred model organisms, which may not exhibit the full extent of variation found in wild populations. Here, we investigated naturally‐occurring variation in DNA methylation in a wild avian species, the white‐throated sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis). This species offers exceptional opportunities for studying the link
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Is a handful of genes responsible for the common starling invasion success? Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2021-01-09 Soraia Barbosa
Invasive species have the ability to colonize new habitats across distinct areas of the globe, rapidly adjusting to new biotic and abiotic conditions, and often experiencing little impact from the decrease in effective population size and genetic diversity. Still, as each invading population represents a subsample of the original native distribution, it is common to see variability in terms of the
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Spatial population genomics of a recent mosquito invasion Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2021-01-09 Thomas L Schmidt; T. Swan; Jessica Chung; Stephan Karl; Samuel Demok; Qiong Yang; Matt A Field; Mutizwa Odwell Muzari; Gerhard Ehlers; Mathew Brugh; Rodney Bellwood; Peter Horne; Thomas R Burkot; Scott Ritchie; Ary A Hoffmann
Population genomic approaches can characterise dispersal across a single generation through to many generations in the past, bridging the gap between individual movement and intergenerational gene flow. These approaches are particularly useful when investigating dispersal in recently altered systems, where they provide a way of inferring long‐distance dispersal between newly established populations
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Timing strains of the marine insect Clunio marinus diverged and persist with gene flow Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2021-01-07 Tobias S. Kaiser; Arndt von Haeseler; Kristin Tessmar‐Raible; David G. Heckel
Genetic divergence of populations in the presence of gene flow is a central theme in speciation research. Theory predicts that divergence can happen with full range overlap – in sympatry – driven by ecological factors, but there are few empirical examples of how ecologically divergent selection can overcome gene flow and lead to reproductive isolation. In the marine midge Clunio marinus (Diptera: Chironomidae)
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Resistance and resilience of genetic and phenotypic diversity to “black swan” flood events: A retrospective analysis with historical samples of guppies Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-12-21 Léa Blondel; Ian G. Paterson; Paul Bentzen; Andrew P. Hendry
Rare extreme “black swan” disturbances can impact ecosystems in many ways, such as destroying habitats, depleting resources, and causing high mortality. In rivers, for instance, exceptional floods that occur infrequently (e.g., so‐called “50‐year floods”) can strongly impact the abundance of fishes and other aquatic organisms. Beyond such ecological effects, these floods could also impact intraspecific
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Suppression gene drive in continuous space can result in unstable persistence of both drive and wild‐type alleles Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2021-01-06 Jackson Champer; Isabel K. Kim; Samuel E. Champer; Andrew G. Clark; Philipp W. Messer
Rapid evolutionary processes can produce drastically different outcomes when studied in panmictic population models versus spatial models. One such process is gene drive, which describes the spread of “selfish” genetic elements through a population. Engineered gene drives are being considered for the suppression of disease vectors or invasive species. While laboratory experiments and modeling in panmictic
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Allele‐specific expression and gene regulation help explain transgressive thermal tolerance in non‐native hybrids of the endangered California tiger salamander (Ambystoma californiense) Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-12-18 Robert D. Cooper; H. Bradley Shaffer
Hybridization between native and non‐native species is an ongoing global conservation threat. Hybrids that exhibit traits and tolerances that surpass parental values are of particular concern, given their potential to outperform native species. Effective management of hybrid populations requires an understanding of both physiological performance and the underlying mechanisms that drive transgressive
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The comparative genomic landscape of adaptive radiation in crater lake cichlid fishes Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-12-11 Peiwen Xiong; C. Darrin Hulsey; Carmelo Fruciano; Wai Y. Wong; Alexander Nater; Andreas F. Kautt; Oleg Simakov; Martin Pippel; Shigehiro Kuraku; Axel Meyer; Paolo Franchini
Factors ranging from ecological opportunity to genome composition might explain why only some lineages form adaptive radiations. While being rare, particular systems can provide natural experiments within an identical ecological setting where species numbers and phenotypic divergence in two closely related lineages are notably different. We investigated one such natural experiment using two de novo
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Genetic diversity and historical demography in Bellamya gastropods from the Lake Victoria ecoregion reveal early and severe population collapse Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-10-28 Nathan V. Whelan; Ellen E. Strong
Understanding the interplay between ecological and population genetic processes through space and time is a central goal of landscape genetics. However, most studies that place diversification dynamics in an ecological context have focused on vertebrates, leaving a significant gap in our understanding of the effects of ecosystem change on community composition and demography of invertebrates. In the
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Population structure, inbreeding and stripe pattern abnormalities in plains zebras Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-11-10 Brenda Larison; Christopher B. Kaelin; Ryan Harrigan; Corneliu Henegar; Daniel I. Rubenstein; Pauline Kamath; Ortwin Aschenborn; Thomas B. Smith; Gregory S. Barsh
One of the most iconic wild equids, the plains zebra occupies a broad region of sub‐Saharan Africa and exhibits a wide range of phenotypic diversity in stripe patterns that have been used to classify multiple subspecies. After decades of relative stability, albeit with a loss of at least one recognized subspecies, the total population of plains zebras has undergone an approximate 25% decline since
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Horizontal acquisition of Symbiodiniaceae in the Anemonia viridis (Cnidaria, Anthozoa) species complex Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-11-29 Barbara Porro; Thamilla Zamoum; Cédric Mallien; Benjamin C. C. Hume; Christian R. Voolstra; Eric Röttinger; Paola Furla; Didier Forcioli
All metazoans are in fact holobionts, resulting from the association of several organisms, and organismal adaptation is then due to the composite response of this association to the environment. Deciphering the mechanisms of symbiont acquisition in a holobiont is therefore essential to understanding the extent of its adaptive capacities. In cnidarians, some species acquire their photosynthetic symbionts
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Landscape genomics of Quercus lobata reveals genes involved in local climate adaptation at multiple spatial scales Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-11-12 Paul F. Gugger; Sorel T. Fitz‐Gibbon; Ana Albarrán‐Lara; Jessica W. Wright; Victoria L. Sork
Understanding how the environment shapes genetic variation provides critical insight about the evolution of local adaptation in natural populations. At multiple spatial scales and multiple geographic contexts within a single species, such information could address a number of fundamental questions about the scale of local adaptation and whether or not the same loci are involved at different spatial
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Early presence of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in Mexico with a contemporary dominance of the global panzootic lineage Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-11-17 M. Delia Basanta; Allison Q. Byrne; Erica Bree Rosenblum; Jonah Piovia‐Scott; Gabriela Parra‐Olea
Chytridiomycosis, caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), is a devastating infectious disease of amphibians. Retrospective studies using museum vouchers and genetic samples supported the hypothesis that Bd colonized Mexico from North America and then continued to spread into Central and South America, where it led to dramatic losses in tropical amphibian biodiversity (the epizootic
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The masking effect of extracellular DNA and robustness of intracellular DNA in anaerobic digester NGS studies: A discriminatory study of the total DNA pool Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-11-20 Magdalena Nagler; Sabine Marie Podmirseg; Markus Mayr; Judith Ascher‐Jenull; Heribert Insam
Most commonly, next generation sequencing‐based microbiome studies are performed on the total DNA (totDNA) pool; however, this consists of extracellular‐ (exDNA) and intracellular (iDNA) DNA fractions. By investigating the microbiomes of different anaerobic digesters over time, we found that totDNA suggested lower species richness considering all and/or only common species and yielded fewer unique
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The genomic signature of ecological divergence along the benthic‐limnetic axis in allopatric and sympatric threespine stickleback Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-11-22 Andreas Härer; Daniel I. Bolnick; Diana J. Rennison
The repeated occurrence of similar phenotypes in independent lineages (i.e., parallel evolution) in response to similar ecological conditions can provide compelling insights into the process of adaptive evolution. An intriguing question is to what extent repeated phenotypic changes are underlain by repeated changes at the genomic level and whether patterns of genomic divergence differ with the geographic
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Weak genetic signal for phenotypic integration implicates developmental processes as major regulators of trait covariation Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-11-24 Andrew J. Conith; Sylvie A. Hope; Brian H. Chhouk; R. Craig Albertson
Phenotypic integration is an important metric that describes the degree of covariation among traits in a population, and is hypothesized to arise due to selection for shared functional processes. Our ability to identify the genetic and/or developmental underpinnings of integration is marred by temporally overlapping cell‐, tissue‐ and structure‐level processes that serve to continually 'overwrite'
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Microgeographical adaptation corresponds to elevational distributions of congeneric montane grasshoppers Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-11-20 Sonu Yadav; Adam J. Stow; Rachael Y. Dudaniec
Local adaptation can occur at small spatial scales relative to the dispersal capacity of species. Alpine ecosystems have sharp environmental clines that offer an opportunity to investigate the effects of fine‐scale shifts in species’ niche breadth on adaptive genetic processes. Here we examine two grasshopper species endemic to the Australian Alps (Kosciuscola spp.) that differ in elevational niche
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Host plant diet affects growth and induces altered gene expression and microbiome composition in the wood white (Leptidea sinapis) butterfly Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-11-20 Karin Näsvall; Christer Wiklund; Veronika Mrazek; Axel Künstner; Venkat Talla; Hauke Busch; Roger Vila; Niclas Backström
In a time with decreasing biodiversity, especially among insects, a detailed understanding about specific resource utilization strategies is crucial. The physiological and behavioural responses to host switches in phytophagous insects are poorly understood. Earlier studies indicate that a host plant switch might be associated with distinctive molecular and physiological responses in different lineages
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Maternal effects in gene expression of interspecific coral hybrids Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-11-11 Wing Yan Chan; Jessica Chung; Lesa M. Peplow; Ary A. Hoffmann; Madeleine J. H. van Oppen
Maternal effects have been well documented for offspring morphology and life history traits in plants and terrestrial animals, yet little is known about maternal effects in corals. Further, few studies have explored maternal effects in gene expression. In a previous study, F1 interspecific hybrid and purebred larvae of the coral species Acropora tenuis and Acropora loripes were settled and exposed
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Vicariance followed by secondary gene flow in a young gazelle species complex Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-11-23 Genís Garcia‐Erill; Michael Munkholm Kjær; Anders Albrechtsen; Hans Redlef Siegismund; Rasmus Heller
Grant's gazelles have recently been proposed to be a species complex comprising three highly divergent mtDNA lineages (Nanger granti, N. notata and N. petersii). The three lineages have nonoverlapping distributions in East Africa, but without any obvious geographical divisions, making them an interesting model for studying the early‐stage evolutionary dynamics of allopatric speciation in detail. Here
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Demographic analyses of marine and terrestrial snakes (Elapidae) using whole genome sequences Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-11-10 Alastair J. Ludington; Kate L. Sanders
The question of whether spatial aspects of evolution differ in marine versus terrestrial realms has endured since Ernst Mayr's 1954 essay on marine speciation. Marine systems are often suggested to support larger and more highly connected populations, but quantitative comparisons with terrestrial systems have been lacking. Here, we compared the population histories of marine and terrestrial elapid
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Bacterial dispersal and drift drive microbiome diversity patterns within a population of feral hindgut fermenters Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-11-24 Mason R. Stothart; Ruth J. Greuel; Stefan Gavriliuc; Astrid Henry; Alastair J. Wilson; Philip D. McLoughlin; Jocelyn Poissant
Studies of microbiome variation in wildlife often emphasize host physiology and diet as proximate selective pressures acting on host‐associated microbiota. In contrast, microbial dispersal and ecological drift are more rarely considered. Using amplicon sequencing, we characterized the bacterial microbiome of adult female (n = 86) Sable Island horses (Nova Scotia, Canada) as part of a detailed individual‐based
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Fungal guilds and soil functionality respond to tree community traits rather than to tree diversity in European forests Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-11-23 Luis Daniel Prada‐Salcedo; Kezia Goldmann; Anna Heintz‐Buschart; Thomas Reitz; Janna Wambsganss; Jürgen Bauhus; François Buscot
At the global scale, most forest research on biodiversity focuses on aboveground organisms. However, understanding the structural associations between aboveground and belowground communities provides relevant information about important functions linked to biogeochemical cycles. Microorganisms such as soil fungi are known to be closely coupled to the dominant tree vegetation, and we hypothesize that
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Top‐down controls on nutrient cycling and population dynamics in a model estuarine photoautotroph–heterotroph co‐culture system Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-11-23 Qiang Zheng; Wenxin Lin; Yu Wang; Dapeng Xu; Yanting Liu; Nianzhi Jiao
Viral lysis and protistan grazing are thought to be the major processes leading to microbial mortality in aquatic environments and thus regulate community diversity and biogeochemical cycling characteristics. Here, we studied nutrient cycling and bacterial responses to cyanophage‐mediated photoautotroph lysis and ciliate predation in a model Synechococcus–heterotroph co‐culture system. Both viral lysis
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Pattern and causes of the establishment of the invasive bacterial potato pathogen Dickeya solani and of the maintenance of the resident pathogen D. dianthicola Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-11-23 Pauline Blin; Kévin Robic; Slimane Khayi; Jérémy Cigna; Euphrasie Munier; Pauline Dewaegeneire; Angélique Laurent; Yan Jaszczyszyn; Kar‐Wai Hong; Kok‐Gan Chan; Amélie Beury; Sylvie Reverchon; Tatiana Giraud; Valérie Hélias; Denis Faure
Invasive pathogens can be a threat when they affect human health, food production or ecosystem services, by displacing resident species, and we need to understand the cause of their establishment. We studied the patterns and causes of the establishment of the pathogen Dickeya solani that recently invaded potato agrosystems in Europe by assessing its invasion dynamics and its competitive ability against
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Global drivers of recent diversification in a marine species complex Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-12-20 Catarina N.S. Silva; Nicholas P. Murphy; James J. Bell; Bridget S. Green; Guy Duhamel; Andrew C. Cockcroft; Cristián E. Hernández; Jan M. Strugnell
Investigating historical gene flow in species complexes can indicate how environmental and reproductive barriers shape genome divergence during speciation. The processes influencing species diversification under environmental change remain one of the central focal points of evolutionary biology, particularly for marine organisms with high dispersal potential. We investigated genome‐wide divergence
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Expansion of frozen hybrids in the guppy ectoparasite, Gyrodactylus turnbulli Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-12-20 Mateusz Konczal; Karolina J. Przesmycka; Ryan S. Mohammed; Christoph Hahn; Jo Cable; Jacek Radwan
Hybridization is one of the major factors contributing to the emergence of highly successful parasites. Hybrid vigour can play an important role in this process, but subsequent rounds of recombination in the hybrid population may dilute its effects. Increased fitness of hybrids can, however, be frozen by asexual reproduction. Here, we identify invasion of a ‘frozen hybrid’ genotype in natural populations
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Gene family amplification facilitates adaptation in freshwater unionid bivalve Megalonaias nervosa Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-12-31 Rebekah L. Rogers; Stephanie L. Grizzard; James E. Titus‐McQuillan; Katherine Bockrath; Sagar Patel; John P. Wares; Jeffrey T Garner; Cathy C. Moore
Freshwater unionid bivalves currently face severe anthropogenic challenges. Over 70% of species in the United States are threatened, endangered or extinct due to pollution, damming of waterways, and overfishing. These species are notable for their unusual life history strategy, parasite‐host coevolution, and biparental mitochondria inheritance. Among this clade, the washboard mussel Megalonaias nervosa
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Time‐calibrated genomic evolution of a monomorphic bacterium during its establishment as an endemic crop pathogen Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-12-11 Damien Richard; Olivier Pruvost; François Balloux; Claudine Boyer; Adrien Rieux; Pierre Lefeuvre
Horizontal gene transfer is of major evolutionary importance as it allows for the redistribution of phenotypically important genes among lineages. Such genes with essential functions include those involved in resistance to antimicrobial compounds and virulence factors in pathogenic bacteria. Understanding gene turnover at microevolutionary scales is critical to assess the pace of this evolutionary
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Phylogenetic and geographical analysis of a retrovirus during the early stages of endogenous adaptation and exogenous spread in a new host Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-11-20 Bonnie L. Quigley; Faye Wedrowicz; Fiona Hogan; Peter Timms
Most retroviral endogenization and host adaptation happened in the distant past, with the opportunity to study these processes as they occurred lost to time. An exception exists with the discovery that koala retrovirus (KoRV) has recently begun its endogenization into the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) genome. What makes this opportunity remarkable is the fact that Northern Australian koalas appear
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A SNP variant located in the cis‐regulatory region of the ABCG2 gene is associated with mallard egg color Mol. Ecol. (IF 5.163) Pub Date : 2020-12-29 Hehe Liu; Jian Hu; Zhanbao Guo; Wenlei Fan; Yaxi Xu; Suyun Liang; Dapeng Liu; Yunsheng Zhang; Ming Xie; Jing Tang; Wei Huang; Qi Zhang; Yang Xi; Yanying Li; Lei Wang; Shengchao Ma; Yong Jiang; Yulong Feng; Yongbao Wu; Junting Cao; Zhengkui Zhou; Shuisheng Hou
Avian egg coloration is shaped by natural selection, but its genetic basis remains unclear. Here, we used genome‐wide association (GWA) analysis and identity by descent (IBD) to finely map green egg color to a 179 kb region of Chr4 based on the resequencing of 352 ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) from a segregating population resulting from the mating of Pekin ducks (white‐shelled eggs) and mallards (green‐shelled