A single panmictic population of endemic red crabs, Gecarcoidea natalis, on Christmas Island with high levels of genetic diversity

Weeks, Andrew R.; Smith, Michael J.; Rooyen, Anthony van; Maple, Dion; Miller, Adam D.

doi:10.1007/s10592-014-0588-x

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…In some cases relatively high genetic diversity in island populations is also possible. For example, large numbers of founding individuals in island-colonizing song birds, or high dispersal rates and a large population size that offset the founder effect in Christmas Island red crabs ( Gecarcoidea natalis ), led to relatively high genetic diversity (Aleixandre et al 2013 ; Weeks et al 2014 ). Galapagos bullhead sharks have low dispersal capacity and smaller populations sizes, in comparison.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Darwin could not see: island formation and historical sea levels shape genetic divergence and island biogeography in a coastal marine species

et al. 2023

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Oceanic islands play a central role in the study of evolution and island biogeography. The Galapagos Islands are one of the most studied oceanic archipelagos but research has almost exclusively focused on terrestrial organisms compared to marine species. Here we used the Galapagos bullhead shark (Heterodontus quoyi) and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to examine evolutionary processes and their consequences for genetic divergence and island biogeography in a shallow-water marine species without larval dispersal. The sequential separation of individual islands from a central island cluster gradually established different ocean depths between islands that pose barriers to dispersal in H. quoyi. Isolation by resistance analysis suggested that ocean bathymetry and historical sea level fluctuations modified genetic connectivity. These processes resulted in at least three genetic clusters that exhibit low genetic diversity and effective population sizes that scale with island size and the level of geographic isolation. Our results exemplify that island formation and climatic cycles shape genetic divergence and biogeography of coastal marine organisms with limited dispersal comparable to terrestrial taxa. Because similar scenarios exist in oceanic islands around the globe our research provides a new perspective on marine evolution and biogeography with implications for the conservation of island biodiversity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Darwin could not see: island formation and historical sea levels shape genetic divergence and island biogeography in a coastal marine species

et al. 2023

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“…This may be especially relevant in species with large, panmictic populations, including terrestrial arthropods (e.g. Weeks et al., 2014) and many marine species (e.g. Deagle et al., 2015), where genetic variation is lacking.…”

Section: Applying This Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Harnessing the power of multi‐omics data for predicting climate change response

Layton

Bradbury

2021

Journal of Animal Ecology

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Predicting how species will respond to future climate change is of central importance in the midst of the global biodiversity crisis, and recent work has demonstrated the utility of population genomics for improving these predictions. Here, we suggest a broadening of the approach to include other types of genomic variants that play an important role in adaptation, like structural (e.g. copy number variants) and epigenetic variants (e.g. DNA methylation). These data could provide additional power for forecasting response, especially in weakly structured or panmictic species. Incorporating structural and epigenetic variation into estimates of climate change vulnerability, or maladaptation, may not only improve prediction power but also provide insight into the molecular mechanisms underpinning species' response to climate change.

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“…All B. parvus samples (hair and tissue) collected from the Mount Buller population from 2010–2015 and all translocated individuals were genotyped at 24 microsatellite loci. We genotyped samples with eight previously isolated microsatellite markers 11 and generated another 16 new markers using an established approach 27 . Briefly, the 454 sequencing platform was used to characterise microsatellite markers from 10 µg of genomic DNA extracted (using a Qiagen DNA Easy Kit, Qiagen) from ear tissue from a single B. parvus adult female collected from Mount Buller in 2010.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic rescue increases fitness and aids rapid recovery of an endangered marsupial population

Weeks

Heinze

Perrin³

et al. 2017

Nat Commun

Self Cite

131

119

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Genetic rescue has now been attempted in several threatened species, but the contribution of genetics per se to any increase in population health can be hard to identify. Rescue is expected to be particularly useful when individuals are introduced into small isolated populations with low levels of genetic variation. Here we consider such a situation by documenting genetic rescue in the mountain pygmy possum, Burramys parvus. Rapid population recovery occurred in the target population after the introduction of a small number of males from a large genetically diverged population. Initial hybrid fitness was more than two-fold higher than non-hybrids; hybrid animals had a larger body size, and female hybrids produced more pouch young and lived longer. Genetic rescue likely contributed to the largest population size ever being recorded at this site. These data point to genetic rescue as being a potentially useful option for the recovery of small threatened populations.

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A single panmictic population of endemic red crabs, Gecarcoidea natalis, on Christmas Island with high levels of genetic diversity

Cited by 5 publications

References 40 publications

What Darwin could not see: island formation and historical sea levels shape genetic divergence and island biogeography in a coastal marine species

What Darwin could not see: island formation and historical sea levels shape genetic divergence and island biogeography in a coastal marine species

Harnessing the power of multi‐omics data for predicting climate change response

Genetic rescue increases fitness and aids rapid recovery of an endangered marsupial population

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