疾病驱动的顶级掠食者减少影响中等掠食者种群的基因组结构
Marc A Beer1, Kirstin M Proft2, Anne Veillet3
1School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA.
Nature ecology & evolution
|January 9, 2024
概括
塔斯马尼亚最大的捕食者 - - 塔斯马尼亚魔鬼 (Tasmanian devil) 的数量减少,正在推动斑尾的遗传变化. 这种捕食者与猎物的相互作用影响着的进化和遗传多样性.
科学领域:
- 生态生态学 生态生态学
- 进化生物学 进化生物学
- 基因组学就是基因组学.
背景情况:
- 顶级捕食者减少显著影响生态系统,但它们的进化效应尚不清楚.
- 塔斯马尼亚魔鬼,岛上的顶级捕食者,由于一种可传染的癌症而减少.
- 斑尾,作为中间掠食者,经历人口变化和行为转变后的恶魔下降.
研究的目的:
- 研究顶级掠食者数量减少对中等掠食者种群的进化后果.
- 识别塑造基因组结构和选择签名的环境和生物因素.
- 探索物种间竞争在驱动进化变化中的作用,在食物级联中.
主要方法:
- 利用一个景观社区基因组学框架来分析人口基因组结构.
- 确定了影响基因组变异和选择的环境和生物变量.
- 相关的景观抗性和恶魔密度与基因细分和选择签名在quolls.
主要成果:
- 生物因素,特别是恶魔密度,是斑点尾巴基因组结构的关键驱动因素.
- 据预测,随着时间的推移,魔鬼数量下降将增加quoll种群的遗传细分.
- 在quoll基因组中检测到选择的签名,与肌肉发育和运动的基因相关,受到魔鬼存在的影响.
结论:
- 提供了新的证据,证明了顶级捕食者与中等捕食者相互作用在食物级联中的进化影响.
- 证明由峰掠食者丧失所驱动的生态变化可以诱导下属物种的快速进化反应.
- 这项研究的框架可以作为评估全球变化的生态相互作用的进化影响的模型.
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