Speaker
Description
Matthias H. Weissensteiner, Kira Delmore, Juan Sebastian Lugo Ramos, Gregoire Arnaud, Julio Blas, Bruno Faivre, Paolo Franchini, Ivan Pokrovsky, Martin Wikelski, Jesko Partecke, Miriam Liedvogel
Partial migration describes the phenomenon of one population of a species containing both migratory and sedentary individuals and it has been suggested that this type of behavior is genetically determined. Here we investigated partial migration and its genetic underpinnings in the European blackbird, a ubiquitous and well-known songbird. While populations in Spain and France are fully sedentary with no migratory movement occurring, individuals of Northern European and Russian populations are obligate migrants. To study the genetic basis of this behavior, we generated whole-genome sequencing data for 30 individuals of a population in South-Western Germany, where both migrants and resident birds occur and interbreed. In addition, we also sequenced a total of 30 individuals from Spain, France, and Russia. Analysis of genetic differentiation (FST) based on single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) between migrants and residents in the German population yielded a very low overall degree of differentiation, further supported by the absence of within-population structure in the principal component analysis of SNP genotypes. To directly investigate any association between the migratory phenotype and individuals’ genotypes, we ran linear mixed models on the entire genome. After correcting for multiple testing, we found only a single SNP to be significantly associated with the migratory phenotype. While this result is a promising first step towards revealing the genetic basis of partial migration in blackbirds, it represents only an association, and further experiments and analyses are needed to corroborate the conclusion.
