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- Husby, Arild, et al.
(author)
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Testing Mechanisms of Bergmann's Rule : Phenotypic Decline but No Genetic Change in Body Size in Three Passerine Bird Populations
- 2011
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In: American Naturalist. - : University of Chicago Press. - 0003-0147 .- 1537-5323. ; 178:2, s. 202-213
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Bergmann's rule predicts a decrease in body size with increasing temperature and has much empirical support. Surprisingly, we know very little about whether "Bergmann size clines" are due to a genetic response or are a consequence of phenotypic plasticity. Here, we use data on body size (mass and tarsus length) from three long-term (1979-2008) study populations of great tits (Parus major) that experienced a temperature increase to examine mechanisms behind Bergmann's rule. We show that adult body mass decreased over the study period in all populations and that tarsus length increased in one population. Both body mass and tarsus length were heritable and under weak positive directional selection, predicting an increase, rather than a decrease, in body mass. There was no support for microevolutionary change, and thus the observed declines in body mass were likely a result of phenotypic plasticity. Interestingly, this plasticity was not in direct response to temperature changes but seemed to be due to changes in prey dynamics. Our results caution against interpreting recent phenotypic body size declines as adaptive evolutionary responses to temperature changes and highlight the importance of considering alternative environmental factors when testing size clines.
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- Kawakami, Takeshi, et al.
(author)
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Estimation of linkage disequilibrium and interspecific gene flow in Ficedula flycatchers by a newly developed 50k single-nucleotide polymorphism array
- 2014
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In: Molecular Ecology Resources. - : Wiley. - 1755-098X .- 1755-0998. ; 14:6, s. 1248-1260
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- With the access to draft genome sequence assemblies and whole-genome resequencing data from population samples, molecular ecology studies will be able to take truly genome-wide approaches. This now applies to an avian model system in ecological and evolutionary research: Old World flycatchers of the genus Ficedula, for which we recently obtained a 1.1Gb collared flycatcher genome assembly and identified 13 million single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)s in population resequencing of this species and its sister species, pied flycatcher. Here, we developed a custom 50K Illumina iSelect flycatcher SNP array with markers covering 30 autosomes and the Z chromosome. Using a number of selection criteria for inclusion in the array, both genotyping success rate and polymorphism information content (mean marker heterozygosity=0.41) were high. We used the array to assess linkage disequilibrium (LD) and hybridization in flycatchers. Linkage disequilibrium declined quickly to the background level at an average distance of 17kb, but the extent of LD varied markedly within the genome and was more than 10-fold higher in genomic islands' of differentiation than in the rest of the genome. Genetic ancestry analysis identified 33 F-1 hybrids but no later-generation hybrids from sympatric populations of collared flycatchers and pied flycatchers, contradicting earlier reports of backcrosses identified from much fewer number of markers. With an estimated divergence time as recently as <1Ma, this suggests strong selection against F-1 hybrids and unusually rapid evolution of reproductive incompatibility in an avian system.
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- Rice, Amber M., et al.
(author)
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Optimizing the trade-off between offspring number and quality in unpredictable environments: Testing the role of differential androgen transfer to collared flycatcher eggs
- 2013
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In: Hormones and Behavior. - : Elsevier BV. - 1095-6867 .- 0018-506X. ; 63:5, s. 813-822
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- According to the brood reduction hypothesis, parents adjust their brood size in response to current environmental conditions. When resources are abundant, parents can successfully raise all hatched offspring, but when resources are scarce, brood reduction, i.e., the sacrifice of some siblings to secure the quality of a subset of offspring, may maximize fitness. Differential transfer of maternal androgens is one potential proximate mechanism through which female birds may facilitate brood reduction because it may alter the relative competitive ability of sibling nestlings. We tested the hypothesis that female collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis) manipulate sibling competition by transferring less androgens to eggs late in the laying sequence. We experimentally elevated androgen levels in i) whole clutches and ii) only the two last laid eggs, and compared growth and begging behavior of offspring from these treatments with a control treatment. By using three treatments and video assessment of begging, we examined the effects of within-clutch patterns of yolk androgen transfer on levels of sibling competition in situ. When androgens were elevated in only the two last laid eggs, begging was more even among siblings compared to control nests. We also found that female nestlings receiving additional yolk androgens showed higher mass gain later in the breeding season, while their male counterparts did not. Our results suggest that females may improve reproductive success in unpredictable environments by altering within-clutch patterns of yolk androgen transfer. We discuss the possibility that life-history divergence between the co-occurring collared and pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) is amplified by patterns of yolk androgen transfer. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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- Vallin, Niclas, et al.
(author)
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Positive feedback between ecological and reproductive character displacement in a young avian hybrid zone
- 2012
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In: Evolution. - : Wiley. - 0014-3820 .- 1558-5646. ; 66:4, s. 1167-1179
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Character displacement can reduce costly interspecific interactions between young species. We investigated the mechanisms behind divergence in three key traits—breeding habitat choice, timing of breeding, and plumage coloration—in Ficedula flycatchers. We found that male pied flycatchers became expelled from the preferred deciduous habitat into mixed forest as the superior competitor, collared flycatchers, increased in numbers. The peak in food abundance differs between habitats, and the spatial segregation was paralleled by an increased divergence in timing of breeding between the two species. Male pied flycatchers vary from brown to black with brown coloration being more frequent in sympatry with collared flycatchers, a pattern often proposed to result from selection against hybridization, that is, reinforcement. In contrast to this view, we show that brown male pied flycatchers more often hybridize than black males. Male pied flycatcher plumage coloration influenced the territory obtained in areas of co-occurrence with collared flycatchers, and brown male pied flycatchers experienced higher relative fitness than black males when faced with heterospecific competition. We suggest that allopatric divergence in resource defense ability causes a feedback loop at secondary contact where male pied flycatchers with the most divergent strategy compared to collared flycatchers are favored by selection.
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