scholarly journals Gene flow between island populations of the malaria mosquito, Anopheles hinesorum, may have contributed to the spread of divergent host preference phenotypes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke Ambrose ◽  
Daniel Ortiz‐Barrientos ◽  
Robert D. Cooper ◽  
Neil F. Lobo ◽  
Thomas R. Burkot ◽  
...  
Author(s):  
Luke Ambrose ◽  
Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos ◽  
Robert Cooper ◽  
Neil Lobo ◽  
Thomas Burkot ◽  
...  

Anopheles hinesorum is a mosquito species with variable host preference. Throughout New Guinea and northern Australia, An. hinesorum feeds on humans (it is opportunistically anthropophagic) while in the southwest Pacific’s Solomon Archipelago, the species is abundant but has rarely been found biting humans (it is exclusively zoophagic in most populations). There are at least two divergent zoophagic (non-human biting) mitochondrial lineages of An. hinesorum in the Solomon Archipelago. Since zoophagy is a derived (non-ancestral) trait in this species, this leads to the question: has zoophagy evolved independently in these divergent lineages? Or conversely: has nuclear gene flow or connectivity resulted in the transfer of zoophagy? Although we cannot conclusively answer this, we find close nuclear relationships between Solomon Archipelago populations indicating that recent nuclear gene flow has occurred between zoophagic populations from the divergent mitochondrial lineages. Recent work on isolated islands of the Western Province (Solomon Archipelago) has also revealed an anomalous, anthropophagic island population of An. hinesorum. We find a common shared mitochondrial haplotype between this Solomon Island population and another anthropophagic population from New Guinea. This finding suggests that there has been recent migration from New Guinea into the only known anthropophagic population from the Solomon Islands. Although currently localized to a few islands in the Western Province of the Solomon Archipelago, if anthropophagy presents a selective advantage, we may see An. hinesorum emerge as a new malaria vector in a region that is now working on malaria elimination.


2009 ◽  
Vol 60 (8) ◽  
pp. 802 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Coleman ◽  
B. M. Gillanders ◽  
S. D. Connell

Characterising patterns of dispersal and gene flow in habitat-forming organisms is becoming a focal concern for conservation and management strategies as anthropogenic impacts drive change in coastal ecosystems. Here, we use six microsatellite markers to characterise dispersal and gene flow across the South Australian distribution of the habitat-forming kelp Ecklonia radiata. Populations of E. radiata on subtidal reefs in South Australia were highly genetically structured on large (100s of km, FST = 0.211) and small (10s of km, FST = 0.042) spatial scales with the extent of differentiation positively correlated with geographic distances among populations. Neither the presence of oceanic currents nor intervening rocky reef habitats appeared to facilitate widespread gene flow. There was a trend for island populations to be more genetically differentiated from those on the mainland and to have slightly greater levels of heterozygosity than mainland populations. Our results show relatively low dispersal and gene flow suggesting that recovery following kelp loss may be slow. Such information not only provides insights into relative rates of recovery, but may also identify which populations may be best used for propagation and restoration efforts.


PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e8976
Author(s):  
Lisa Chamberland ◽  
Fabian C. Salgado-Roa ◽  
Alma Basco ◽  
Amanda Crastz-Flores ◽  
Greta J. Binford ◽  
...  

Background Modern molecular analyses are often inconsistent with pre-cladistic taxonomic hypotheses, frequently indicating higher richness than morphological taxonomy estimates. Among Caribbean spiders, widespread species are relatively few compared to the prevalence of single island endemics. The taxonomic hypothesis Gasteracantha cancriformis circumscribes a species with profuse variation in size, color and body form. Distributed throughout the Neotropics, G. cancriformis is the only morphological species of Gasteracantha in the New World in this globally distributed genus. Methods We inferred phylogenetic relationships across Neotropical populations of Gasteracantha using three target genes. Within the Caribbean, we estimated genetic diversity, population structure, and gene flow among island populations. Results Our findings revealed a single widespread species of Gasteracantha throughout the Caribbean, G. cancriformis, while suggesting two recently divergent mainland populations that may represent separate species, diverging linages, or geographically isolated demes. The concatenated and COI (Cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1) phylogeny supported a Caribbean clade nested within the New World. Genetic variability was high between island populations for our COI dataset; however, gene flow was also high, especially between large, adjacent islands. We found structured genetic and morphological variation within G. cancriformis island populations; however, this variation does not reflect genealogical relationships. Rather, isolation by distance and local morphological adaptation may explain the observed variation.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melina Campos ◽  
Mark Hanemaaijer ◽  
Hans Gripkey ◽  
Travis Collier ◽  
Yoosook Lee ◽  
...  

1996 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Rannala ◽  
J. A. Hartigan

SummaryA new method is presented for estimating the rate of gene flow into island populations using the distribution of alleles in samples from a number of islands. The pseudo maximum likelihood estimator (PMLE) that we derive may be applied to species with either discrete or continuous generation times. For Wright's discrete-generation island model, the method provides an estimate of θ = 2Nm where N is the (haploid) population size on each island and m is the fraction of individuals replaced by immigrants in each generation. For a continuous-generation island model, the corresponding parameter φ is the ratio of the immigration rate φ to the individual birth rate λ. Monte Carlo simulations are used to compare the statistical properties of the PMLE with those of two alternative estimatorsof θ derived from Wright's F-statistics. The PMLE is shown to have greatest efficiency (least mean square error) in most cases for a wide range of sample sizes and parameter values. The PMLE is applied to estimate θ using mtDNA haplotypes and allozymes for subdivided populations of African elephants and Channel Island foxes.


2010 ◽  
Vol 365 (1543) ◽  
pp. 1127-1138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paquita E. A. Hoeck ◽  
Jennifer L. Bollmer ◽  
Patricia G. Parker ◽  
Lukas F. Keller

Small and isolated island populations provide ideal systems to study the effects of limited population size, genetic drift and gene flow on genetic diversity. We assessed genetic diversity within and differentiation among 19 mockingbird populations on 15 Galápagos islands, covering all four endemic species, using 16 microsatellite loci. We tested for signs of drift and gene flow, and used historic specimens to assess genetic change over the last century and to estimate effective population sizes. Within-population genetic diversity and effective population sizes varied substantially among island populations and correlated strongly with island size, suggesting that island size serves as a good predictor for effective population size. Genetic differentiation among populations was pronounced and increased with geographical distance. A century of genetic drift did not change genetic diversity on an archipelago-wide scale, but genetic drift led to loss of genetic diversity in small populations, especially in one of the two remaining populations of the endangered Floreana mockingbird. Unlike in other Galápagos bird species such as the Darwin's finches, gene flow among mockingbird populations was low. The clear pattern of genetically distinct populations reflects the effects of genetic drift and suggests that Galápagos mockingbirds are evolving in relative isolation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 417-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina M. Bergey ◽  
Martin Lukindu ◽  
Rachel M. Wiltshire ◽  
Michael C. Fontaine ◽  
Jonathan K. Kayondo ◽  
...  

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