TY - JOUR

T1 - Life-history traits and habitat availability shape genomic diversity in birds

T2 - Implications for conservation

AU - Brüniche-Olsen, Anna

AU - Kellner, Kenneth F.

AU - Belant, Jerrold L.

AU - Dewoody, J. Andrew

N1 - Funding Information: A.B.O. was supported by a Carlsberg Foundation Reintegration Fellowship (grant no. CF19-0427). The work was in part supported by the U.S. National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Acknowledgements Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s).

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - More than 25% of species assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) are threatened with extinction. Understanding how environmental and biological processes have shaped genomic diversity may inform management practices. Using 68 extant avian species, we parsed the effects of habitat availability and life-history traits on genomic diversity over time to provide a baseline for conservation efforts. We used published whole-genome sequence data to estimate overall genomic diversity as indicated by historical long-term effective population sizes (N e) and current genomic variability (H), then used environmental niche modelling to estimate Pleistocene habitat dynamics for each species. We found that N e and H were positively correlated with habitat availability and related to key life-history traits (body mass and diet), suggesting the latter contribute to the overall genomic variation. We found that H decreased with increasing species extinction risk, suggesting that H may serve as a leading indicator of demographic trends related to formal IUCN conservation status in birds. Our analyses illustrate that genome-wide summary statistics estimated from sequence data reflect meaningful ecological attributes relevant to species conservation.

AB - More than 25% of species assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) are threatened with extinction. Understanding how environmental and biological processes have shaped genomic diversity may inform management practices. Using 68 extant avian species, we parsed the effects of habitat availability and life-history traits on genomic diversity over time to provide a baseline for conservation efforts. We used published whole-genome sequence data to estimate overall genomic diversity as indicated by historical long-term effective population sizes (N e) and current genomic variability (H), then used environmental niche modelling to estimate Pleistocene habitat dynamics for each species. We found that N e and H were positively correlated with habitat availability and related to key life-history traits (body mass and diet), suggesting the latter contribute to the overall genomic variation. We found that H decreased with increasing species extinction risk, suggesting that H may serve as a leading indicator of demographic trends related to formal IUCN conservation status in birds. Our analyses illustrate that genome-wide summary statistics estimated from sequence data reflect meaningful ecological attributes relevant to species conservation.

KW - Aves

KW - demographic history

KW - environmental niche modelling

KW - IUCN

KW - PSMC

KW - whole-genome sequencing

U2 - 10.1098/rspb.2021.1441

DO - 10.1098/rspb.2021.1441

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 34702080

VL - 288

JO - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

JF - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

SN - 0962-8452

IS - 1961

M1 - 20211441

ER -