The city and forest bird flock together in a common garden: genetic and environmental effects drive urban phenotypic divergence

Author:

Thompson M.J.ORCID,Réale D.,Chenet B.,Delaitre S.,Fargevieille A.,Romans M.,Caro S.P.,Charmantier A.

Abstract

AbstractUrban phenotypic divergences are documented across diverse taxa and are commonly assumed to result from microevolution, but the underlying genetic and environmental drivers behind these phenotypic changes are unknown in most wild urban systems. We censused urban common garden studies in the literature (N= 77) across a range of taxa. Collectively, these studies showed that both genetic and plastic responses can contribute to urban phenotypic divergences, while revealing a lack of studies with vertebrates. We conducted our own common garden experiment using great tit (Parus major) eggs collected along an urbanization gradient in Montpellier, France to: 1) determine whether documented morphological, physiological, and behavioural shifts in wild urban great tits are maintained in birds from urban and forest origins reared in a common garden (N= 73) and 2) evaluate how different sources of genetic, early maternal investment, and later environmental variation contributed to trait variation in the experiment. In line with the phenotypic divergence in the wild, common garden birds from urban origins had faster breath rates (i.e., higher stress response) and were smaller than birds from forest origins, suggesting genetic differentiation has driven these trait differences. Conversely, wild differences in aggression and exploration were not maintained in the common garden, indicating that plasticity to urban conditions likely drives the documented behavioural shifts. Differences between individuals (genetic and environmentally induced) explained the most trait variation in the experiment, while variation among foster nests and captive social groups was limited. Among-individual variation in size and stress response was similar between common garden and wild contexts, whereas among-individual behavioural variation was lower in the common garden than the wild. Our results provide trait-specific evidence of evolution in an urban species where genetic change likely underlies urban shifts in morphology and stress physiology, but that urban behavioural divergences are driven by plasticity.

Publisher

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3