Speciation and population divergence in a mutualistic seed dispersing bird

  • Bird-mediated seed dispersal is crucial for the regeneration and viability of ecosystems, often resulting in complex mutualistic species networks. Yet, how this mutualism drives the evolution of seed dispersing birds is still poorly understood. In the present study we combine whole genome re-sequencing analyses and morphometric data to assess the evolutionary processes that shaped the diversification of the Eurasian nutcracker (Nucifraga), a seed disperser known for its mutualism with pines (Pinus). Our results show that the divergence and phylogeographic patterns of nutcrackers resemble those of other non-mutualistic passerine birds and suggest that their early diversification was shaped by similar biogeographic and climatic processes. The limited variation in foraging traits indicates that local adaptation to pines likely played a minor role. Our study shows that close mutualistic relationships between bird and plant species might not necessarily act as a primary driver of evolution and diversification in resource-specialized birds.

Download full text files

Export metadata

Metadaten
Author:Jordi de RaadORCiD, Martin PäckertORCiDGND, Martin IrestedtORCiD, Axel JankeORCiD, Alexey P. KryukovORCiD, Maria A. NilssonORCiD
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-751307
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-022-03364-2
ISSN:2399-3642
Parent Title (English):Communications biology
Publisher:Spinger Nature
Place of publication:London
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2022/05/09
Date of first Publication:2022/05/09
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2024/04/24
Tag:Coevolution; Phylogenetics
Volume:5
Issue:art. 429
Article Number:429
Page Number:10
First Page:1
Last Page:10
Note:
Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.
Note:
We thank the Erika und Walter Datz-Stiftung for providing additional financial support for the project. Lastly, the present study is a result of the Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics (LOEWE-TBG) and was supported through the programme ‘LOEWE – Landes-Offensive zur Entwicklung Wissenschaftlich-ökonomischer Exzellenz’ of Hesse’s Ministry of Higher Education, Research and the Arts.
Note:
The data produced in the current study are available at the NCBI Sequence Read Archive under BioProject PRJNA682958 accession numbers SAMN17014695–SAMN17014724. The raw 10X genomics sequencing data used for the nutcracker reference assembly have been deposited at NCBI under accession number SAMN17050349. All supporting data are uploaded to Dryad, https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.stqjq2c57
HeBIS-PPN:519155300
Institutes:Biowissenschaften
Angeschlossene und kooperierende Institutionen / Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft
Dewey Decimal Classification:5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 57 Biowissenschaften; Biologie / 570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie
Sammlungen:Universitätspublikationen
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - CC BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International