Open AccessAdaptive and neutral markers both show continent‐wide population structure of mountain pine beetle ( Dendroctonus ponderosae )
Author(s) -
Batista Philip D.,
Janes Jasmine K.,
Boone Celia K.,
Murray Brent W.,
Sperling Felix A. H.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
ecology and evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.17
H-Index - 63
ISSN - 2045-7758
DOI - 10.1002/ece3.2367
Subject(s) - mountain pine beetle , dendroctonus , bark beetle , population , ecology , geography , biology , bark (sound) , demography , sociology
Assessments of population genetic structure and demographic history have traditionally been based on neutral markers while explicitly excluding adaptive markers. In this study, we compared the utility of putatively adaptive and neutral single‐nucleotide polymorphisms ( SNP s) for inferring mountain pine beetle population structure across its geographic range. Both adaptive and neutral SNP s, and their combination, allowed range‐wide structure to be distinguished and delimited a population that has recently undergone range expansion across northern British Columbia and Alberta. Using an equal number of both adaptive and neutral SNP s revealed that adaptive SNP s resulted in a stronger correlation between sampled populations and inferred clustering. Our results suggest that adaptive SNP s should not be excluded prior to analysis from neutral SNP s as a combination of both marker sets resulted in better resolution of genetic differentiation between populations than either marker set alone. These results demonstrate the utility of adaptive loci for resolving population genetic structure in a nonmodel organism.