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Autumn migration direction of juvenile willow warblers (Phylloscopus t. trochilus and P. t. acredula) and their hybrids assessed by qPCR SNP genotyping

Zhao, Tianhao ; Ilieva, Mihaela LU ; Larson, Keith LU ; Lundberg, Max LU ; Neto, Júlio M. LU ; Sokolovskis, Kristaps LU orcid ; Åkesson, Susanne LU and Bensch, Staffan LU (2020) In Movement Ecology 8.
Abstract

Backgrounds: Geographic regions, where two closely related taxa with different migration routes come into contact, are known as migratory divides. Hybrids originating from migratory divides are hypothesized to migrate intermediately relative to the parental populations. Few studies have tested this hypothesis in wild birds, and only in hybrids that have completed the migration back to the breeding grounds. Here, we make use of the well-established migration routes of willow warblers (Phylloscopus trochilus), for which the subspecies trochilus and acredula have migration-associated genetic markers on chromosomes 1 and 5. The genetic approach enabled us to analyze the geographic distribution of juveniles during their first autumn... (More)

Backgrounds: Geographic regions, where two closely related taxa with different migration routes come into contact, are known as migratory divides. Hybrids originating from migratory divides are hypothesized to migrate intermediately relative to the parental populations. Few studies have tested this hypothesis in wild birds, and only in hybrids that have completed the migration back to the breeding grounds. Here, we make use of the well-established migration routes of willow warblers (Phylloscopus trochilus), for which the subspecies trochilus and acredula have migration-associated genetic markers on chromosomes 1 and 5. The genetic approach enabled us to analyze the geographic distribution of juveniles during their first autumn migration, predicting that hybrids should be more frequent in the central flyway over Italy than along the typical SW routes of trochilus and SE routes of acredula. Methods: Blood and feather samples were collected from wintering birds in Africa (n = 69), and from juveniles during autumn migration in Portugal (n = 33), Italy (n = 38) and Bulgaria (n = 32). Genotyping was carried out by qPCR SNP assays, on one SNP each on chromosome 1 (SNP 65) and chromosome 5 (SNP 285). Both these SNPs have alternative alleles that are highly fixed (> 97%) in each of the subspecies. Results: The observed combined genotypes of the two SNPs were associated with the known migration routes and wintering distributions of trochilus and acredula, respectively. We found hybrids (HH) among the juveniles in Italy (5/38) and in Portugal (2/33). The proportion of hybrids in Italy was significantly higher than expected from a background rate of hybrid genotypes (1.5%) in allopatric populations of the subspecies. Conclusions: Our genetic approach to assign individuals to subspecies and hybrids allowed us to investigate migration direction in juvenile birds on their first migration, which should better reflect the innate migratory direction than studies restricted to successful migrants. The excess of hybrids in Italy, suggests that they employ an intermediate route relative to the parental populations. Our qPCR SNP genotyping method is efficient for processing large sample sizes, and will therefore be useful in migration research of species with known population genetic structure.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Bird migration, Genetic migration program, Hybrid genotype, Intermediate route, Migratory divide, Phylloscopus trochilus, SNP genotyping
in
Movement Ecology
volume
8
article number
22
publisher
BioMed Central (BMC)
external identifiers
  • scopus:85085590181
  • pmid:32514357
ISSN
2051-3933
DOI
10.1186/s40462-020-00209-7
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
0e1606fe-0e60-4728-a3b5-3c6235b058cb
date added to LUP
2020-06-16 09:14:17
date last changed
2024-05-01 11:24:42
@article{0e1606fe-0e60-4728-a3b5-3c6235b058cb,
  abstract     = {{<p>Backgrounds: Geographic regions, where two closely related taxa with different migration routes come into contact, are known as migratory divides. Hybrids originating from migratory divides are hypothesized to migrate intermediately relative to the parental populations. Few studies have tested this hypothesis in wild birds, and only in hybrids that have completed the migration back to the breeding grounds. Here, we make use of the well-established migration routes of willow warblers (Phylloscopus trochilus), for which the subspecies trochilus and acredula have migration-associated genetic markers on chromosomes 1 and 5. The genetic approach enabled us to analyze the geographic distribution of juveniles during their first autumn migration, predicting that hybrids should be more frequent in the central flyway over Italy than along the typical SW routes of trochilus and SE routes of acredula. Methods: Blood and feather samples were collected from wintering birds in Africa (n = 69), and from juveniles during autumn migration in Portugal (n = 33), Italy (n = 38) and Bulgaria (n = 32). Genotyping was carried out by qPCR SNP assays, on one SNP each on chromosome 1 (SNP 65) and chromosome 5 (SNP 285). Both these SNPs have alternative alleles that are highly fixed (&gt; 97%) in each of the subspecies. Results: The observed combined genotypes of the two SNPs were associated with the known migration routes and wintering distributions of trochilus and acredula, respectively. We found hybrids (HH) among the juveniles in Italy (5/38) and in Portugal (2/33). The proportion of hybrids in Italy was significantly higher than expected from a background rate of hybrid genotypes (1.5%) in allopatric populations of the subspecies. Conclusions: Our genetic approach to assign individuals to subspecies and hybrids allowed us to investigate migration direction in juvenile birds on their first migration, which should better reflect the innate migratory direction than studies restricted to successful migrants. The excess of hybrids in Italy, suggests that they employ an intermediate route relative to the parental populations. Our qPCR SNP genotyping method is efficient for processing large sample sizes, and will therefore be useful in migration research of species with known population genetic structure.</p>}},
  author       = {{Zhao, Tianhao and Ilieva, Mihaela and Larson, Keith and Lundberg, Max and Neto, Júlio M. and Sokolovskis, Kristaps and Åkesson, Susanne and Bensch, Staffan}},
  issn         = {{2051-3933}},
  keywords     = {{Bird migration; Genetic migration program; Hybrid genotype; Intermediate route; Migratory divide; Phylloscopus trochilus; SNP genotyping}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{05}},
  publisher    = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
  series       = {{Movement Ecology}},
  title        = {{Autumn migration direction of juvenile willow warblers (Phylloscopus t. trochilus and P. t. acredula) and their hybrids assessed by qPCR SNP genotyping}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40462-020-00209-7}},
  doi          = {{10.1186/s40462-020-00209-7}},
  volume       = {{8}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}