Genetics of Migration

Session

Talks

12 Mar 2024, 10:15

Lecture Hall (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology)

10. Causes and consequences of non-random gene flow in lake-stream stickleback

Marius Roesti

12/03/2024, 10:15

Marius Roesti, Nicole Nesvadba, Thor Veen, Keila Stark, Jeffrey Groh, Daniel Bolnick, Yoel Stuart, Catherine L. Peichel

Adaptive population divergence is commonly ascribed to selection favoring different individuals in different habitats. In this case, random migration between habitats, and hence gene flow between populations, should counteract adaptive divergence. Yet, population...

11. Ancestral winter quarters shape and constrain the evolution of long-distance migration

Staffan Bensch (Lund University)

12/03/2024, 10:35

Staffan Bensch
Migration propensity in birds is evolutionary labile, with many examples of within-species migratoriness increasing or decreasing on the time scale of modern ornithology. In contrast, shifts in migration routes to more nearby wintering grounds seem to be a much slower process, resulting in what has been called “suboptimal migration routes”. We examined the evolutionary history...

12. Molecular regulation of population-specific migratory behaviour in songbirds at single cell resolution

Jun Ishigohoka (MPI for Evolutionary Biology)

12/03/2024, 12:20

Avian migration is an ecologically and evolutionarily important behaviour. Classic breeding experiments show that the difference in migratory propensity between migrant and resident populations has genetic bases. More recent population genomic studies indicate that differential selection on gene regulation instead of protein variants may be responsible for this heritable behavioural variation....

13. One or two quails? Migration and fenotype diversity leaded by a big chromosomal inversion

Ines Sanchez-Donoso (Doñana Biological Station (CSIC-EBD) )

12/03/2024, 12:40

How multitrait phenotypic polymorphisms that are geographically structured can be mantained in a highly mobile and panmictic species is difficult to explain. However, that is what we observe in the common quail (Coturnix coturnix), a small migratory galliform that moves widely during the breeding season following ephemeral habitats, in search of sequential matings and with successive clutches...

14. Unfolding Wings: Understanding the development of migration patterns and flight skills in a long-distance migrant

Andrea Flack (Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior )

13/03/2024, 10:15

How the migratory behaviour of birds develops over their lifetime is a longstanding question with important implications for predicting the adaptive capacity of migrants in a changing world. However, our inability to follow the movements of individuals from early life has limited our understanding of the ontogeny of migration. My research examines the development of migratory behaviour in...

15. Stonechat migratory divide in Asia – an unconventional avian model for the study of genetic migration

Barbara Helm (Swiss Ornithological Institute ), Tianhao Zhao (University of Groningen)

13/03/2024, 10:35

Tianhao Zhao, Yuri Anisimov, Wieland Heim, Guoming Zhang, Wenjia Chen, Zongzhuang Liu, Xiaolu Jiao, Depin Li, Magnus Hellström, Staffan Bensch, Gang Song, Fumin Lei, Miriam Liedvogel, Kristen Ruegg, Bregje Wertheim, Barbara Helm
The global distribution of geographical barriers is often associated with differentiation of global avian flyways. Selection pressure from the presence of...

16. The genetic basis of partial migration in blackbirds

Matthias Weissensteiner (Institute of Avian Research)

13/03/2024, 12:15

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...

17. Adaptation of Spanish robins (Erithacus rubecula) to habitats with different seasonality

Corinna Langebrake (Institute of Avian Research "Vogelwarte Helgoland" )

13/03/2024, 12:35

Corinna Langebrake, Javier Pérez-Tris, Juan Carlos Illera, Georg Manthey, Miriam Liedvogel

Bird migration evolved as an adaptation to seasonally changing habitats. Migratory behaviour can vary within the same species in case of partial migratory behaviour, i.e. one population (or individual) is migratory and another one is resident. Species that exhibit a wide variety of migratory...

18. Male migrants live fast and die young

Karl Wotton (University of Exeter ), Toby Doyle (University of Exeter )

14/03/2024, 09:30

Toby Doyle & Karl Wotton

Migration is a widely observed phenomenon with long-distance movements supported by morphological, physiological and behavioural traits, of which the genetic bases of are poorly understood. While these traits vary with season, they can also vary between sexes due to different life-history requirements. Recently we have unpacked the genetic components underpinning...

19. Enhanced flight performance following repeated bouts of flight and recovery in an insect migrant

Oliver Poole (University of Exeter)

14/03/2024, 09:50

Oliver Poole, Karl Wotton

The regulation of muscle tissue is crucial for migration as it directly impacts the efficiency and success of long-distance movement. Migratory birds increase muscle mass prior to migration with subsequent muscle catabolism thought to be important for maintaining optimal power to weight ratios as fuel is used up and as an endogenous source of water and Kreb cycle...

20. Risks to migrants in agroecosystems: increased sensitivity to pesticides linked to down-regulation of a key detoxification gene.

Jaimie Barnes (University of Exeter)

14/03/2024, 10:10

Jaimie Barnes, Karl Wotton, Chris Bass

Animal migrations worldwide are changing in response to human activities and migratory insects have been subject to the same drastic declines seen in many resident species. Long-distance movement can expose migrants to a diverse range of habitats, and migratory demands may reduce the function of physiological processes not directly linked to migration,...

21. Conserved genetic diversity and preliminary support for behavioural changes after a rapid range expansion of a long-distance migrant (Acrocephalus scirpaceus)

Nora Bergman (University of Helsinki )

14/03/2024, 11:15

Bergman, N., Lehikoinen, P., Kluen, E., Procházka, P., Stokke, B., Lo Cascio Sætre C., Eroukhmanoff, F., Thorogood, R., Rönkä, K.
Many species are currently undergoing range shifts to track their environmental niche with climate change. However, colonizing new areas can also cause changes in the shifting population. Repeated founder events are expected to erode genetic variation and reduce...

22. Sensing a long day at adult stage is cruical for Cnaphalocrocis medinalis to decide to migrate

Chao-min Xu (Nanjing Agricultural University)

14/03/2024, 11:35

Chao-min Xu, Meng-yu Hu, Yu-meng Wang, Gao Hu*

Migration is a behavioral strategy that allows insects to respond to seasonal changes in resources and the environment. Insect migration is regulated by external environmental factors such as nutrient conditions, temperature and humidity, photoperiod, and population density, as well as by intrinsic factors. Photoperiod, an important feature of...

23. How flexible is the migration strategy in Alpine swifts?

Christoph Meier (Swiss ornithological institute)

14/03/2024, 11:55

Christoph M. Meier, Guilia Masoero, Gwenaël Jacob, Hakan Karaardıç, Raül Aymí, Strahil G. Peev, Pierre Bize

How readily birds can adapt their migration strategy to a changing environment is a longstanding inquiry in ornithology. It is firmly established that crucial behaviours, such as migration direction and departure date, are genetically hardwired. However, certain aspects, like the...

24. Could deep learning and population genomics unravel the mystery of songbird vagrancy?

Joe Wynn (Institute for Avian Research )

14/03/2024, 12:15

Joe Wynn, Robert Rollins, Jochen Dierschke, Staffan Bensch, Darren Irwin and Miriam Liedvogel

Vagrancy - the tendency of (migratory) animals to leave their known range - is an essential yet poorly understood component of migratory route evolution. Vagrant birds are, by definition, extremely uncommon, and hence conventional tracking technologies are not practical since vagrant individuals...