Temporal Dynamics of Avian Populations during Pleistocene Revealed by Whole-Genome Sequences.

ABSTRACT: Global climate fluctuations have significantly influenced the distribution and abundance of biodiversity. During unfavorable glacial periods, many species experienced range contraction and fragmentation, expanding again during interglacials. An understanding of the evolutionary consequences of both historical and ongoing climate changes requires knowledge of the temporal dynamics of population numbers during such climate cycles. Variation in abundance should have left clear signatures in the patterns of intraspecific genetic variation in extant species, from which historical effective population sizes (N(e)) can be estimated. We analyzed whole-genome sequences of 38 avian species in a pairwise sequentially Markovian coalescent (PSMC, [5]) framework to quantitatively reveal changes in N(e)

SUBMITTER: Nadachowska-Brzyska K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4446789 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature