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Broyles GG, Myers BM, Friedman NR, Gawin DF, Mohd-Taib FS, Sahlan PGM, Seneviratne SS, de Silva NCG, Lekamlage TTM, Hund AK, Scordato ESC. Evolutionarily labile dispersal behavior and discontinuous habitats enhance population differentiation in island versus continentally distributed swallows. Evolution 2023; 77:2656-2671. [PMID: 37801637 DOI: 10.1093/evolut/qpad179] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2023] [Revised: 09/18/2023] [Accepted: 10/05/2023] [Indexed: 10/08/2023]
Abstract
The causes of population divergence in vagile groups remain a paradox in evolutionary biology: dispersive species should be able to colonize new areas, a prerequisite for allopatric speciation, but dispersal also facilitates gene flow, which erodes population differentiation. Strong dispersal ability has been suggested to enhance divergence in patchy habitats and inhibit divergence in continuous landscapes, but empirical support for this hypothesis is lacking. Here we compared patterns of population divergence in a dispersive clade of swallows distributed across both patchy and continuous habitats. The Pacific Swallow (Hirundo tahitica) has an insular distribution throughout Southeast Asia and the Pacific, while its sister species, the Welcome Swallow (H. neoxena), has a continental distribution in Australia. We used whole-genome data to demonstrate strong genetic structure and limited introgression among insular populations, but not among continental populations. Demographic models show that historic changes in habitat connectivity have contributed to population structure within the clade. Swallows appear to exhibit evolutionarily labile dispersal behavior in which they reduce dispersal propensity after island colonization despite retaining strong flight ability. Our data support the hypothesis that fragmented habitats enhance population differentiation in vagile groups, and suggest that labile dispersal behavior is a key mechanism underlying this pattern.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grant G Broyles
- Department of Biological Sciences, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA, United States
| | - Brian M Myers
- Department of Biological Sciences, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA, United States
- Department of Biology, Eastern Oregon University, La Grande, OR, United States
| | - Nicholas R Friedman
- Biodiversity and Biocomplexity Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna, Japan
- Centre for Taxonomy and Morphology, Museum of Nature Hamburg, Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB), Hamburg, Germany
| | - Dency F Gawin
- Faculty of Resource Science and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia
| | - Farah S Mohd-Taib
- Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia
| | - Penigran G M Sahlan
- Sabah Forestry Department, Forest Research Centre, Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia
| | - Sampath S Seneviratne
- Avian Sciences and Conservation, Department of Zoology and Environment Sciences, The University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka
| | - N Chamalka G de Silva
- Avian Sciences and Conservation, Department of Zoology and Environment Sciences, The University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka
- Department of Physiology and Neurobiology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, United States
| | - Thilini T M Lekamlage
- Avian Sciences and Conservation, Department of Zoology and Environment Sciences, The University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, Canada
| | - Amanda K Hund
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, The University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, United States
- Department of Biology, Carleton College, Northfield, MN, United States
| | - Elizabeth S C Scordato
- Department of Biological Sciences, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA, United States
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