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GENETIC, MORPHOLOGICAL, AND ACOUSTIC EVIDENCE REVEALS LACK OF DIVERSIFICATION IN THE COLONIZATION PROCESS IN AN ISLAND BIRD
Author(s) -
Illera Juan Carlos,
Palmero Ana M.,
Laiolo Paola,
Rodríguez Felipe,
Moreno Ángel C.,
Navascués Miguel
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.84
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1558-5646
pISSN - 0014-3820
DOI - 10.1111/evo.12429
Subject(s) - biology , coalescent theory , evolutionary biology , archipelago , gene flow , ecology , genetic structure , population , passerine , subspecies , phylogenetic tree , genetic variation , genetics , demography , gene , sociology
Songbirds with recently (i.e., early Holocene) founded populations are suitable models for studying incipient differentiation in oceanic islands. On such systems each colonization event represents a different evolutionary episode that can be studied by addressing sets of diverging phenotypic and genetic traits. We investigate the process of early differentiation in the spectacled warbler ( Sylvia conspicillata ) in 14 populations separated by sea barriers from three Atlantic archipelagos and from continental regions spanning from tropical to temperate latitudes. Our approach involved the study of sexual acoustic signals, morphology, and genetic data. Mitochondrial DNA did not provide clear population structure. However, microsatellites analyses consistently identified two genetic groups, albeit without correspondence to subspecies classification and little correspondence to geography. Coalescent analyses showed significant evidence for gene flow between the two genetic groups. Discriminant analyses could not correctly assign morphological or acoustic traits to source populations. Therefore, although theory predicting that in isolated populations genetic, morphological, or acoustic traits can lead to radiation, we have strikingly failed to document differentiation on these attributes in a resident passerine throughout three oceanic archipelagos.