Divergent selection and drift shape the genomes of two avian sister species spanning a saline-freshwater ecotone.

ABSTRACT: The role of species divergence due to ecologically based divergent selection-or ecological speciation-in generating and maintaining biodiversity is a central question in evolutionary biology. Comparison of the genomes of phylogenetically related taxa spanning a selective habitat gradient enables discovery of divergent signatures of selection and thereby provides valuable insight into the role of divergent ecological selection in speciation. Tidal marsh ecosystems provide tractable opportunities for studying organisms' adaptations to selective pressures that underlie ecological divergence. Sharp environmental gradients across the saline-freshwater ecotone within tidal marshes present extreme adaptive challenges to terrestrial vertebrates. Here, we sequence 20 whole genomes of two avian sist

SUBMITTER: Walsh J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6912898 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature