Suchergebnisse

In Focus: Scalercio, S., Cini, A., Menchetti, M., Vodă, R., Bonelli, S., Bordoni, A., … Dapporto, L. (2020). How long is 3 km for a butterfly? Ecological constraints and functional traits explain high mitochondrial genetic diversity between Sicily and the Italian Peninsula. Journal of Animal Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365‐2656.13196. Biotic and abiotic factors can shape geographical patterns of genetic variation within species, but few studies have addressed how this might generate common patterns at the level of communities of species. Scalercio et al. (2020) have combined mtDNA sequence data and life‐history traits, to reveal a repeated pattern of genetic structure between Sicilian and southern Italian butterfly populations, which are separated by only 3 km of ocean. They reveal how intrinsic species traits and extrinsic environmental constraints explain this pattern, demonstrating an important role for wind. Moreover, the inclusion of almost 8,000 georeferenced sequences reveals that, in spite of also being present in southern Italy, almost half of Sicilian butterfly species are more closely related to populations from other parts of Europe, Asia or North Africa. We provide further discussion on the biogeographic barrier they identify, and the potential of community‐level DNA barcoding to identify processes that structure genetic variation across communities. ; The authors are supported by Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación (CGL2017‐85718‐P), co‐financed by FEDER, with additional support to B.C.E. through the iBioGen project, funded through the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 810729. E.J.‐G. was funded by the Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional through the FPU PhD fellowship (FPU18/04601) and D.S. was funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades through an FPI PhD fellowship (PRE2018‐083230). ; Peer reviewed

Dispersal ability is known to influence geographical structuring of genetic variation within species, with a direct relationship between low vagility and population genetic structure, which can potentially give rise to allopatric speciation. However, our general understanding of the relationship between dispersal ability, population differentiation and lineage diversification is limited. To address this issue, we sampled mitochondrial DNA variation within lineages of beetles and spiders across the Canary Islands to explore the relationships between dispersal ability, differentiation within lineages and diversification. We found positive relationships between population genetic structure and diversification for both beetles and spiders. Comparisons between dispersive and non-dispersive lineages revealed significant differences for both lineage differentiation and diversification. For both taxa, non-dispersive lineages had stronger population genetic structure. Genus-level endemic species richness and proxies for diversification rate within genera were higher in non-dispersive taxa for both beetles and spiders. Comparisons of average and maximum node divergences within genera suggest that species turnover may be higher in non-dispersive genera. Our results reveal a model where dispersal limitation may shape the diversity of lineages across evolutionary timescales by positively influencing intraspecific and species diversity, moderated by higher extinction rates compared to more dispersive lineages. ; This work was supported by projects CGL2017-85718-P (funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, Spain and EDRF, EU), and PID2020-116788GB-I00 (funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, Spain) awarded to B.C.E. P.A. was funded through a Junior Leader Fellowship (LCF/BQ/PR21/11840006) by "la Caixa" Foundation (ID 100010434) and from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 847648. D.S. was funded by the 'Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación' ...

Oceanic island archipelagos provide excellent models to understand evolutionary processes. Colonization events and gene flow can interact with selection to shape genetic variation at different spatial scales. Landscape-scale variation in biotic and abiotic factors may drive fine-scale selection within islands, while long-term evolutionary processes may drive divergence between distantly related populations. Here, we examine patterns of population history and selection between recently diverged populations of the Berthelot's pipit (Anthus berthelotii), a passerine endemic to three North Atlantic archipelagos. First, we use demographic trees and f3 statistics to show that genome-wide divergence across the species range is largely shaped by colonization and bottlenecks, with evidence of very weak gene flow between populations. Then, using a genome scan approach, we identify signatures of divergent selection within archipelagos at single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes potentially associated with craniofacial development and DNA repair. We did not detect within-archipelago selection at the same SNPs as were detected previously at broader spatial scales between archipelagos, but did identify signatures of selection at loci associated with similar biological functions. These findings suggest that similar ecological factors may repeatedly drive selection between recently separated populations, as well as at broad spatial scales across varied landscapes. ; This work was supported by Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) studentships to C.A.M. and C.A. (NE/L002582/1), a Norwich Research Park Science Links grant to D.S.R., M.C. and L.G.S., and a BBSRC fellowship (BB/N011759/1) and British Ecological Society Large Research Grant to L.G.S.We thank two anonymous reviewers whose insight and helpful suggestions have improved this manuscript. We thank Matthew Clark and Lawrence Percival-Alwyn for assistance generating the Berthelot's pipit genome, and Helen Hipperson, Clemens Küpper and Terry Burke (NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility—Sheffield) for assistance with RAD sequencing. We also thank the Spanish Environment Ministry, the Canary government and the Natural Park of Madeira who gave permission for us to perform the sampling work, local governments in the Canary Islands and Madeira who provided accommodation, and the Portuguese Navy who provided transport. The research presented in this paper was carried out on the High Performance Computing Cluster supported by the Research and Specialist Computing Support service at the University of East Anglia. ; Peer reviewed

Specialisation to the soil environment is expected to constrain the spatial scale of diversification within animal lineages. In this context, flightless arthropod lineages, adapted to soil environments, but with broad geographical ranges, rep-resent something of an anomaly. Here we investigate the diversification process within one such 'anomalous' soil specialist, an eyeless and flightless beetle species strongly adapted to the endogean environment but distributed across several oce-anic islands. ; We would like to thank Pedro Oromí, Rafael García, Irene Santos, Eduardo Jiménez, David Hernández and Antonia Salces-Castellano for their help in the fieldwork and/or sample processing. Rafael García also provides us specimens of Geomitopsis from La Palma. We thank Jesús Arribas for drawing the habitus of Geomitopsis. This work was supported by projects CGL2015-74178-JIN (funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, Spain and EDRF, EU) awarded to CA, CGL2017-85718-P (funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, Spain and EDRF, EU) awarded to BCE, PID2020-116788GB-I00 (funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, Spain) awarded to BCE, and with funds from FundaciónCaja Canarias and Fundacion Bancaria 'La Caixa' (project 2017RCE03). We extend our gratitude to the regional governments of the Canary Islands and the local councils (Cabildos) of Tenerife (Expte. AFF 144/18 N° Sigma 2018-01976, La Palma (Code A/EST-034/16 DAG/dag N. 201019378, Gran Canaria (SCQ/tsh/sbn N° Expte.: 110/18), La Gomera (Medio ambiente 5059-23-10-2020), El Hierro (N/Ref: MRR/gmq) and Fuerteventura (Medio Ambiente ACE/PRV/prs) for providing the required permits of collection. ; Peer reviewed

There is an increasing demand for databases including species trait information for biodiversity and community ecology studies. The existence of trait databases is useful for comparative studies within taxa or geographical regions, but there is low availability of databases for certain organisms. Here we present an open access functional trait database for spiders from Macaronesia and the Iberian Peninsula, recording several morphological and ecological traits related to the species life histories, microhabitat and trophic preferences. ; Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2015706482); ERA-Net Net-Biome research framework (0003/201); Organismo Autonomo de Parques Nacionales Spain (485/2012); Catalan Government (2017SGR83); AZORESBIOPORTAL-PORBIOTA (ACORES-01-0145FEDER-000072); University of Barcelona ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Relatório Final do Projecto de I&D financiado pela FCT. ; Instituição Proponente: Fundação Gaspar Frutuoso (FGF); Instituições Participantes: Universidade dos Açores (UAçores) e University of East Anglia (UEA); Unidade de Investigação Principal: Centro de Investigação e Tecnologia Agrária dos Açores (CITAa/UAçores). ; As ilhas da Macaronésia, devido à sua localização geográfica, intervalo de idades geológicas e elevados níveis de endemismo, constituem um sistema ideal para a realização de estudos evolutivos. Neste projeto foram investigados padrões de diversificação em taxa que diversificaram em vários arquipélagos da Macaronésia, com especial ênfase nos Açores, o arquipélago mais recente e mais remoto. Os insetos estão entre os organismos que mais diversificaram nas ilhas da Macaronésia e os escaravelhos do género Tarphius e Laparocerus e as borboletas do género Hipparchia são insetos com distintas capacidades de dispersão que colonizaram estas ilhas e que posteriormente sofreram extensa especiação. Estes insetos foram assim utilizados para estudar padrões e processos de diversificação em ilhas, e para investigar a dinâmica a longo termo da diversificação e o seu impacto na riqueza específica. Neste projeto utilizaram-se técnicas moleculares e abordagens filogenéticas e de genética de populações para estudar colonização e diversificação em ilhas oceânicas. Caracterizou-se a diversidade molecular para vários genes mitocondriais e nucleares em Tarphius e Hipparchia dos Açores, Madeira, Canárias e das áreas continentais vizinhas (Norte de África e Península Ibérica), e Laparocerus das Canárias. Os dados gerados permitiram: i) estimar relações filogenéticas e filogeográficas, e assim investigar hipóteses sobre a origem dos colonizadores; ii) investigar os papeis desempenhados pela capacidade de dispersão e fluxo genético, idade geológica, geografia e distância a fontes de colonizadores nos níveis de diferenciação; iii) investigar a importância relativa de vários processos (e.g., hibridação, separação incompleta de linhagens, especiação in situ, especiação pós-colonização) na evolução dos géneros em estudo; iv) definir unidades evolutivas significativas para conservação; e v) clarificar a taxonomia dos grupos em estudo, conjuntamente com dados morfológicos. Uma vez que Tarphius e Hipparchia ocorrem em múltiplos arquipélagos, este estudo representa o primeiro esforço para inferir padrões de colonização e diversificação em animais a uma escala englobando vários arquipélagos da Macaronésia. O trabalho de campo realizado possibilitou ainda a atualização da distribuição dos taxa em estudo, tendo sido descobertas novas espécies de Tarphius em Marrocos e nos Açores. De modo a colmatar a recorrente falta de partilha de conhecimento científicos com o público em geral, este projeto possui uma componente educacional que visa dar a conhecer espécies insulares endémicas, em particular insetos, e promover a sua conservação. A apresentação de informação sobre esta temática num formato apelativo e compreensível pela população em geral foi uma prioridade cujo objectivo final é influenciar a tomada de medidas políticas que conduzam a um modelo de desenvolvimento mais sustentável em que a biodiversidade não seja entendida como um impedimento ao progresso económico. Neste sentido foram desenvolvidas várias iniciativas junto das populações locais no arquipélago dos Açores, nomeadamente estudantes do 7 ao 12º ano, Câmara do Comércio de Angra do Heroísmo e o público em geral. Os inquéritos realizados a estudantes sobre o património natural dos Açores está a ser utilizado para a criação de dispositivos de aprendizagem sobre a temática da especiação em ilhas e espécies endémicas usando exemplos da Macaronésia. Foi criado uma página na rede social Facebook (www.facebook.com/Chama.lhe.Nomes) que, de um modo interactivo, dá a conhecer espécies de insetos que só existem nos Açores. Também para o público em geral foram produzidas exposições itinerantes sobre insetos dos Açores, uma para ser exposta em espaços interiores e outra composta por telas de grande formato para afixação em fachadas de edifícios. Foram ainda iniciados contactos com a Câmara do Comércio de Angra do Heroísmo, uma associação para a promoção do tecido empresarial regional e que de momento está envolvida no programa PRIMEA (Programa de Requalificação da Imagem das Empresas Açorianas). O objectivo é estabelecer uma parceria activa em que a biodiversidade regional passe a ser aceite como uma mais valia para a economia local e na definição da "Marca Açores". Os resultados deste projeto estão disponíveis para o público em geral no Portal da Biodiversidade dos Açores - www.azoresbioportal.angra.uac.pt (dados de distribuição de espécies), no Genbank - www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/ (sequências de ADN) e no site oficial do projeto - www.gba.uac.pt/projetos/ver.php?id=4. ; ABSTRACT: The Macaronesian islands, due to their geographical location, range of geological ages and high levels of endemism, are an excellent system to study a myriad of evolutionary questions. In this Project we investigated diversification patterns in taxa that diverged in several Macaronesian archipelagos, focusing in the youngest and most remote group of islands, the Azores Insects are among the organisms that have diversified most in the Macaronesian islands. Beetles of the genus Tarphius, weevils of the genus Laparocerus and butterflies of the genus Hipparchia are examples of insects with distinct dispersal abilities that colonized those islands and subsequently underwent extensive speciation. Therefore, they provide an excellent opportunity to study patterns and processes of diversification on islands, and to investigate long-term dynamics of diversification and its impact on species richness. We use molecular techniques and phylogenetic and population genetic approaches to study colonization and diversification on oceanic islands. We characterized molecular diversity at multiple mitochondrial and nuclear genes of Tarphius beetles and Hipparchia butterflies populations from the Azores, Madeira and Canary Islands, and from putative continental sources of colonists (North Africa and Iberia) and of Laparocerus weevils from the Canary Islands. The data generated allowed to: i) estimate phylogenetic and phylogeographic relationships, and thus to investigate hypotheses on the origin of colonizers; ii) investigate the roles of dispersal ability and gene flow, geological age, geography and distance to source of colonists on levels of differentiation; iii) investigate the relative roles of several processes (e.g., hybridization, incomplete lineage sorting, in situ speciation, post-colonization speciation) in the evolution of the study groups; iv) identify evolutionary significant units for conservation, i.e., unique populations that should be given protection priority to prevent further biodiversity loss; and v) clarify the taxonomy of the study groups, combined with morphological data. The fieldwork performed resulted in Tarphius species new to science from Morocco and the Azores, and allowed updating the distribution of the study taxa. To accomplish the often-neglected responsibility of sharing the outcome of scientific endeavours with the general public, we developed several educational activities that focus on the conservation of biodiversity on oceanic islands and, in particular, of island endemic insects. Information on biodiversity was prepared in an appealing and understandable format for the general population. The ultimate goal is to raise awareness on the issue and eventually influence political decisions towards a more sustainable governance model where biodiversity is not perceived as an impediment to economical growth. We developed several initiatives in the Azores, namely with 7-12th grade students, Chamber of Commerce (Câmara do Comércio de Angra do Heroísmo - Terceira) and the general public. The survey to students about the natural heritage of the Azores is being used to create learning devices about island speciation using Macaronesian examples. The page "Chama-lhe Nomes! was created on the social network Facebook (www.facebook.com/Chama.lhe.Nomes) to introduce, in an interactive manner, insects that only exist in the Azores and raise awareness about unknown biodiversity. We also produced two itinerants exhibit on Azorean insets for the general public, one indoor and one large format outdoor. Additionally we started dialogue with the Angra do Heroísmo Chamber of Commerce, an association that promotes regional business and is currently working on the image requalification of Azorean businesses (PRIMEA program). The goal is to establish an active partnership so that biodiversity is perceived as an asset for the local economy an for the creation of the Azores Brand (Marca Açores). Project outcomes were presented in meetings, published in scientific journals and are available to the general public at the Azorean Biodiversity Portal - www.azoresbioportal.angra.uac.pt (species distribution data), at Genbank - www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/ (DNA sequences) and at the Project website - www.gba.uac.pt/projetos/ver.php?id=4. ; Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia.

Phylogenetic relatedness is a key diversity measure for the analysis and understanding of how species and communities evolve across time and space. Understanding the nonrandom loss of species with respect to phylogeny is also essential for better-informed conservation decisions. However, several factors are known to influence phylogenetic reconstruction and, ultimately, phylogenetic diversity metrics. In this study, we empirically tested how some of these factors (topological constraint, taxon sampling, genetic markers and calibration) affect phylogenetic resolution and uncertainty. We built a densely sampled, species-level phylogenetic tree for spiders, combining Sanger sequencing of species from local communities of two biogeographical regions (Iberian Peninsula and Macaronesia) with a taxon-rich backbone matrix of Genbank sequences and a topological constraint derived from recent phylogenomic studies. The resulting tree constitutes the most complete spider phylogeny to date, both in terms of terminals and background information, and may serve as a standard reference for the analysis of phylogenetic diversity patterns at the community level. We then used this tree to investigate how partial data affect phylogenetic reconstruction, phylogenetic diversity estimates and their rankings, and, ultimately, the ecological processes inferred for each community. We found that the incorporation of a single slowly evolving marker (28S) to the DNA barcode sequences from local communities, had the highest impact on tree topology, closely followed by the use of a backbone matrix. The increase in missing data resulting from combining partial sequences from local communities only had a moderate impact on the resulting trees, similar to the difference observed when using topological constraints. Our study further revealed substantial differences in both the phylogenetic structure and diversity rankings of the analyzed communities estimated from the different phylogenetic treatments, especially when using non-ultrametric trees (phylograms) instead of time-stamped trees (chronograms). Finally, we provide some recommendations on reconstructing phylogenetic trees to infer phylogenetic diversity within ecological studies. ; Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2015); ERA-Net Net-Biome research framework, financed through Portuguese FCT-NETBIOME grant 0003/2011; ERA-Net Net-Biome financed through Canary Islands Government ACIISI grants SE-12/02, SE-12/03, SE-12/04; FEDER; FCT MACDIV-FCT-PTDC/BIABIC/0054/2014; Organismo Autonomo de Parques Nacionales Spain (OAPN #485/2012); Catalan Government; APIF PhD fellowship from the University of Barcelona; Juan de la Cierva Fellowship (FJCI-2015-23723); FCT-Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Norma Transitoria-DL57/2016/CP1375/CT0003); University of Helsinki. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Understanding patterns of community structure and the causes for their variation can be furthered by comparative biogeographic analyses of island biotas. We used woody plant data at the local scale to investigate variations in species rarity, alpha, beta, and gamma diversity within and between three islands from the oceanic archipelagoes of Azores, Canaries and Mascarene. We used standardized protocols to sample ten 50 m × 50 m forest plots in each of the three islands with contrasting climate and regional species pools: Terceira (Azores), Tenerife (Canaries), and Reunion (Mascarene Islands). Occupancy frequency distributions and species abundance distributions were used to investigate rarity. The partitioning of beta diversity in a distance-decay framework was used to test for spatial patterns of community composition. Rarity was much more pronounced in the highly diverse islands of Tenerife and Reunion than in the regionally poorer island of Terceira. The number of species rose faster with increasing sample area in both Tenerife and Reunion. The slope of the species rank abundance curve was steeper in Terceira whereas the richer island assemblages approached a lognormal model. Compositional changes according to spatial distance were mostly due to replacement of species in Terceira and Reunion. Our results point to important differences in the community structure of Terceira, which is the less diverse and temperate region in comparison to Tenerife and Reunion which are highly diverse. ; This research was supported by the ERA-Net Net -Biome research framework, financed through the: Canary Islands Government ACIISI grants SE-12/02 (PO), SE-12/03 (JCC), SE-12/04 (BE), co-financed by FEDER; Portuguese FCT-NETBIOME grant 0003/2011 (PB); French ANR-NETBIOME grant n°11-EBIM-001-01 (CT); Région Reunion council for research activities (DS), Universitéde La Reunion contract DGADD/PE/20120585 (DS). CR, FR and IRA were supported by grants from Fundação da Ciência e Tecnologia - FCT-SFRH/BPD/91357/2012, FCT-PTDC/BIA-BIC/119255/2010, FCT-SFRH/BPD/102804/2014 respectively. MF has been funded by Direcção Regional da Ciência e Tecnologia, DRCT-M3.1.7/F/002/2011 and the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico-CNPq (401045/2014-5), Programa Ciência sem Fronteiras; the current MF's contract is supported by the Universidad de Alcalá. The work of LBD in this manuscript was performed within the scope of the project MOMENTOS (PTDC/BIA-BIC/5558/2014). ; Peer Reviewed