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Spatial Isolation and Temporal Variation in Fitness and Condition Facilitate Divergence in a Migratory Divide

A novel migratory polymorphism evolved within the last 60 years in blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) breeding sympatrically in southwestern Germany. While most individuals winter in the traditional areas in the Mediterranean, a growing number of blackcaps started migrating to Britain instead. The rapid...

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Autores principales: Hermes, Claudia, Mettler, Raeann, Santiago-Alarcon, Diego, Segelbacher, Gernot, Schaefer, H. Martin
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4681481/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26656955
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0144264
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author Hermes, Claudia
Mettler, Raeann
Santiago-Alarcon, Diego
Segelbacher, Gernot
Schaefer, H. Martin
author_facet Hermes, Claudia
Mettler, Raeann
Santiago-Alarcon, Diego
Segelbacher, Gernot
Schaefer, H. Martin
author_sort Hermes, Claudia
collection PubMed
description A novel migratory polymorphism evolved within the last 60 years in blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) breeding sympatrically in southwestern Germany. While most individuals winter in the traditional areas in the Mediterranean, a growing number of blackcaps started migrating to Britain instead. The rapid microevolution of this new strategy has been attributed to assortative mating and better physical condition of birds wintering in Britain. However, the isolating barriers as well as the physical condition of birds are not well known. In our study, we examined whether spatial isolation occurred among individuals with distinct migratory behaviour and birds with different arrival dates also differed in physical and genetic condition. We caught blackcaps in six consecutive years upon arrival on the breeding grounds and assigned them via stable isotope analysis to their wintering areas. Analysis of the vegetation structure within blackcap territories revealed different microhabitat preferences of birds migrating to distinct wintering areas. Blackcaps arriving early on the breeding grounds had higher survival rates, better body condition and higher multilocus heterozygosities than later arriving birds. We did however not find an effect of parasite infection status on arrival time. Our results suggest that early arriving birds have disproportionate effects on population dynamics. Allochrony and habitat isolation may thus act together to facilitate ongoing divergence in hybrid zones, and migratory divides in particular.
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spelling pubmed-46814812015-12-31 Spatial Isolation and Temporal Variation in Fitness and Condition Facilitate Divergence in a Migratory Divide Hermes, Claudia Mettler, Raeann Santiago-Alarcon, Diego Segelbacher, Gernot Schaefer, H. Martin PLoS One Research Article A novel migratory polymorphism evolved within the last 60 years in blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) breeding sympatrically in southwestern Germany. While most individuals winter in the traditional areas in the Mediterranean, a growing number of blackcaps started migrating to Britain instead. The rapid microevolution of this new strategy has been attributed to assortative mating and better physical condition of birds wintering in Britain. However, the isolating barriers as well as the physical condition of birds are not well known. In our study, we examined whether spatial isolation occurred among individuals with distinct migratory behaviour and birds with different arrival dates also differed in physical and genetic condition. We caught blackcaps in six consecutive years upon arrival on the breeding grounds and assigned them via stable isotope analysis to their wintering areas. Analysis of the vegetation structure within blackcap territories revealed different microhabitat preferences of birds migrating to distinct wintering areas. Blackcaps arriving early on the breeding grounds had higher survival rates, better body condition and higher multilocus heterozygosities than later arriving birds. We did however not find an effect of parasite infection status on arrival time. Our results suggest that early arriving birds have disproportionate effects on population dynamics. Allochrony and habitat isolation may thus act together to facilitate ongoing divergence in hybrid zones, and migratory divides in particular. Public Library of Science 2015-12-14 /pmc/articles/PMC4681481/ /pubmed/26656955 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0144264 Text en © 2015 Hermes et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Hermes, Claudia
Mettler, Raeann
Santiago-Alarcon, Diego
Segelbacher, Gernot
Schaefer, H. Martin
Spatial Isolation and Temporal Variation in Fitness and Condition Facilitate Divergence in a Migratory Divide
title Spatial Isolation and Temporal Variation in Fitness and Condition Facilitate Divergence in a Migratory Divide
title_full Spatial Isolation and Temporal Variation in Fitness and Condition Facilitate Divergence in a Migratory Divide
title_fullStr Spatial Isolation and Temporal Variation in Fitness and Condition Facilitate Divergence in a Migratory Divide
title_full_unstemmed Spatial Isolation and Temporal Variation in Fitness and Condition Facilitate Divergence in a Migratory Divide
title_short Spatial Isolation and Temporal Variation in Fitness and Condition Facilitate Divergence in a Migratory Divide
title_sort spatial isolation and temporal variation in fitness and condition facilitate divergence in a migratory divide
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4681481/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26656955
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0144264
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