Biology subjects

Spurgin, L. G.

Publications and source records attributed to Spurgin, L. G..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Divergent selection on dispersal targets chemosensory and neuronal genes in Tribolium castaneum

Dispersal is key to the life history, ecology and evolution of many organisms, and important in pest invasiveness. However, the genetic architecture underlying variation in dispersal behaviour remains poorly understood outside of a few model species. We investigated the genomic basis of dispersal using artificial selection on replicated lines of Tribolium castaneum, a flour beetle, an emergent model system, and an economically important agricultural pest. Combining whole-genome resequencing with population-level genotype-phenotype association analysis, we identify genomic regions associated with selection on dispersal. Identified candidate genes were significantly enriched for functions related to neuronal structure and function, as well as chemosensory behaviour and mating, suggesting that variation in dispersal is mediated by neural and chemosensory pathways. Our results demonstrate that dispersal propensity has a polygenic basis and support an interaction between dispersal and mating ecology in this system. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the genetic mechanisms driving dispersal evolution of dispersal and its role in shaping eco-evolutionary dynamics.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2023

Social network centrality predicts dietary decisions in a wild bird population

How individuals balance costs and benefits of group living remains central to understanding sociality. In relation to diet, social foraging provides many advantages but also increases competition. Nevertheless, social individuals may offset increased competition by broadening their diet and consuming novel foods. Despite the expected relationships between social behaviour and dietary decisions, how sociality shapes individuals novel food consumption remains largely untested in natural populations. Here, we use wild, RFID-tracked, great tits to experimentally test how sociality predicts dietary decisions. We show that individuals with more social connections have higher propensity to use novel foods compared to socially-peripheral individuals, and this is unrelated to neophobia, observations, and demographic factors. These findings indicate sociable individuals may offset potential costs of competition by foraging more broadly. We discuss how social environments may drive behavioural change in natural populations, and the implications for the causes and consequences of social strategies and dietary decisions.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2019

The great tit HapMap project: a continental-scale analysis of genomic variation in a songbird

A major aim of evolutionary biology is to understand why patterns of genomic diversity vary among populations and species. Large-scale genomic studies of widespread species are useful for studying how the environment and demographic history shape patterns of genomic divergence, and with the continually decreasing cost of sequencing and genotyping, such studies are now becoming feasible. Here, we carry out one of the most geographically comprehensive surveys of genomic variation in a wild vertebrate to date; the great tit (Parus major) HapMap project. We screened ca 500,000 SNP markers across 647 individuals from 29 populations, spanning almost the entire geographic range of the European great tit subspecies. We found that genome-wide variation was consistent with a recent colonisation across Europe from a single refugium in South-East Europe, with bottlenecks and reduced genetic diversity in island populations. Differentiation across the genome was highly heterogeneous, with clear "islands of differentiation" even among populations with very low levels of genome-wide differentiation. Low local recombination rate in the genome was a strong predictor of high local genomic differentiation (FST), especially in island and peripheral mainland populations, suggesting that the interplay between genetic drift and recombination is a key driver of highly heterogeneous differentiation landscapes. We also detected genomic outlier regions that were confined to one or more peripheral great tit populations, most likely as a result of recent directional selection at the range edges of this species. Haplotype-based measures of selection were also related to recombination rate, albeit less strongly, and highlighted population-specific sweeps that likely resulted from positive selection. These regions under positive selection contained candidate genes associated with morphology, thermal adaptation and colouration, providing promising avenues for future investigation. Our study highlights how comprehensive screens of genomic variation in wild organisms can provide unique insights into evolution.

evolutionary biology↗