Divergence, convergence, and the ancestry of feral populations in the domestic rock pigeon.

ABSTRACT: Domestic pigeons are spectacularly diverse and exhibit variation in more traits than any other bird species [1]. In The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin repeatedly calls attention to the striking variation among domestic pigeon breeds-generated by thousands of years of artificial selection on a single species by human breeders-as a model for the process of natural divergence among wild populations and species [2]. Darwin proposed a morphology-based classification of domestic pigeon breeds [3], but the relationships among major groups of breeds and their geographic origins remain poorly understood [4, 5]. We used a large, geographically diverse sample of 361 individuals from 70 domestic pigeon breeds and two free-living populations to determine genetic relationships within this species. We

SUBMITTER: Stringham SA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3288640 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature