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Ancestral transoceanic colonization and recent population reduction in a nonannual killifish from the Seychelles archipelago
Author(s) -
Cui Rongfeng,
Tyers Alexandra M.,
Malubhoy Zahabiya Juzar,
Wisotsky Sadie,
Valdesalici Stefano,
Henriette Elvina,
Kosakovsky Pond Sergei L.,
Valenzano Dario Riccardo
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/mec.15982
Subject(s) - biological dispersal , biology , killifish , ecology , archipelago , population , colonization , adaptation (eye) , phylogenomics , local adaptation , evolutionary biology , fishery , phylogenetics , clade , genetics , fish <actinopterygii> , demography , neuroscience , sociology , gene
Whether freshwater fish colonize remote islands following tectonic or transoceanic dispersal remains an evolutionary puzzle. Integrating dating of known tectonic events with phylogenomics and current species distribution, we find that killifish species distribution is not explained by species dispersal by tectonic drift only. Investigating the colonization of a nonannual killifish (golden panchax, Pachypanchax playfairii ) on the Seychelle islands, we found genetic support for transoceanic dispersal and experimentally discovered an adaptation to complete tolerance to seawater. At the macroevolutionary scale, despite their long‐lasting isolation, nonannual golden panchax show stronger genome‐wide purifying selection than annual killifishes from continental Africa. However, progressive decline in effective population size over a more recent timescale has probably led to the segregation of slightly deleterious mutations across golden panchax populations, which represents a potential threat for species preservation in the long term.