Article, 2023
Population genomics of the island thrush elucidates one of earth’s great archipelagic radiations
Evolution Letters,
ISSN
2056-3744,
Volume 7,
1,
Pages 24-36,
10.1093/evlett/qrac006
Contributors
Reeve, Andrew Hart
(Corresponding author)
[1]
Gower, Graham
0000-0002-6197-3872
[1]
Pujolar, Jose Martin
[1]
[2]
Smith, Brian Tilston
[3]
Petersen, Bent Ole
0000-0002-2472-8317
[1]
[4]
Olsson, Urban
[5]
Haryoko, Tri
0000-0002-8549-3662
[6]
Koane, Bonny
0000-0001-6770-5126
[7]
[8]
Maiah, Gibson
[8]
Blom, Mozes Pil Kyu
0000-0002-6304-9827
[9]
Ericson, Per G P
0000-0002-4143-9998
[10]
Irestedt, Martin
0000-0003-1680-6861
[10]
Racimo, Fernando
0000-0002-5025-2607
[1]
Jønsson, Knud Andreas
0000-0002-1875-9504
[1]
Affiliations
- [1]
University of Copenhagen
[NORA names:
KU University of Copenhagen; University; Denmark; Europe, EU; Nordic; OECD];
- [2]
Technical University of Denmark
[NORA names:
DTU Technical University of Denmark; University; Denmark; Europe, EU; Nordic; OECD];
- [3]
American Museum of Natural History
[NORA names:
United States; America, North; OECD];
- [4]
Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology
[NORA names:
Malaysia; Asia, South];
- [5]
University of Gothenburg
[NORA names:
Sweden; Europe, EU; Nordic; OECD];
(... more)
- [6]
Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense, Research Center for Biosystematics and Evolution, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Cibinong 16911, Indonesia
[NORA names:
Indonesia; Asia, South];
- [7]
Mauberema Ecotourism, Nature Conservation, Education, Research and Training Center, Simbu Province, Papua New Guinea
- [8]
New Guinea Binatang Research Centre, Madang, Papua New Guinea
[NORA names:
Miscellaneous; Papua New Guinea; Oceania];
- [9]
Museum für Naturkunde
[NORA names:
Germany; Europe, EU; OECD];
- [10]
Swedish Museum of Natural History
[NORA names:
Sweden; Europe, EU; Nordic; OECD]
(less)
Abstract
Tropical islands are renowned as natural laboratories for evolutionary study. Lineage radiations across tropical archipelagos are ideal systems for investigating how colonization, speciation, and extinction processes shape biodiversity patterns. The expansion of the island thrush across the Indo-Pacific represents one of the largest yet most perplexing island radiations of any songbird species. The island thrush exhibits a complex mosaic of pronounced plumage variation across its range and is arguably the world's most polytypic bird. It is a sedentary species largely restricted to mountain forests, yet it has colonized a vast island region spanning a quarter of the globe. We conducted a comprehensive sampling of island thrush populations and obtained genome-wide SNP data, which we used to reconstruct its phylogeny, population structure, gene flow, and demographic history. The island thrush evolved from migratory Palearctic ancestors and radiated explosively across the Indo-Pacific during the Pleistocene, with numerous instances of gene flow between populations. Its bewildering plumage variation masks a biogeographically intuitive stepping stone colonization path from the Philippines through the Greater Sundas, Wallacea, and New Guinea to Polynesia. The island thrush's success in colonizing Indo-Pacific mountains can be understood in light of its ancestral mobility and adaptation to cool climates; however, shifts in elevational range, degree of plumage variation and apparent dispersal rates in the eastern part of its range raise further intriguing questions about its biology.
Keywords
Earth,
Greater,
Greater Sundas,
Indo-Pacific,
Islands region,
New,
New Guinea,
Philippines,
Pleistocene,
Polynesia,
SNP data,
Sunda,
Wallacea,
adaptation,
ancestor,
archipelago,
biodiversity,
biodiversity patterns,
biogeographers,
biology,
birds,
climate,
colon,
colon path,
comprehensive sample,
cool climate,
data,
degree,
demographic history,
dispersal rates,
eastern part,
elevation range,
evolutionary studies,
expansion,
extinction,
extinction process,
flow,
forest,
gene flow,
genes,
genome,
genome-wide SNP data,
globe,
guinea,
history,
ideal system,
island radiations,
island thrush,
islands,
laboratory,
lineage radiation,
lineages,
mobility,
mountain,
mountain forests,
natural laboratory,
parts,
path,
patterns,
phylogeny,
plumage,
plumage variation,
population,
population genomics,
population structure,
process,
quarter,
questions,
radiation,
range,
rate,
region,
sedentary species,
shift,
songbird species,
speciation,
species,
structure,
study,
success,
system,
thrush,
thrush populations,
tropical archipelago,
tropical islands,
variation,
world
Funders
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