Hawksbill sea turtles () from the Hawaiian archipelago form a small and genetically isolated population, consisting of only a few tens of individuals breeding annually. Most females nest on the island of Hawai'i, but little is known about the demographics of this rookery. This study used genetic relatedness, inferred from 135 microhaplotype markers, to determine breeding sex-ratios, estimate female nesting frequency and assess relationships between individuals nesting on different beaches. Samples were collected during the 2017 nesting season and final data included 13 nesting females and 1002 unhatched embryos, salvaged from 41 nests, of which 13 had no observed mother. Results show that most females used a single nesting beach laying 1-5 nests each. From female and offspring alleles, the paternal genotypes of 12 breeding males were reconstructed and many showed high relatedness to their mates. Pairwise relatedness of offspring revealed one instance of polygyny but otherwise suggested a 1 : 1 breeding-sex ratio. Relatedness analysis and spatial-autocorrelation of genotypes indicate that turtles from different nesting areas do not regularly interbreed, suggesting that strong natal homing tendencies in both sexes result in non-random mating across the study area. Complexes of nearby nesting beaches also showed unique patterns of inbreeding across loci, further indicating that Hawaiian hawksbill turtles have demographically discontinuous nesting populations separated by only tens of km.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10189603 | PMC |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.221547 | DOI Listing |
Mol Ecol
December 2024
School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.
Biochemical and evolutionary interactions between mitochondrial and nuclear genomes ('mitonuclear interactions') are proposed to underpin fundamental aspects of biology including evolution of sexual reproduction, adaptation and speciation. We investigated the role of pre-mating isolation in maintaining functional mitonuclear interactions in wild populations bearing diverged, putatively co-adapted mitonuclear genotypes. Two lineages of eastern yellow robin Eopsaltria australis-putatively climate-adapted to 'inland' and 'coastal' climates-differ by ~7% of mitogenome nucleotides, whereas nuclear genome differences are concentrated into a sex-linked region enriched with mitochondrial functions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Commun
December 2024
PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Partners resemble each other in health and education, but studies usually examine one trait at a time in established couples. Using data from all Norwegian first-time parents (N = 187,926) between 2016-2020, we analyse grade point average at age 16, educational attainment, and medical records of 10 mental and 10 somatic health conditions measured 10 to 5 years before childbirth. We find stronger partner similarity in mental (median r = 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurr Biol
December 2024
Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemical Engineering, University Pablo de Olavide, Seville 41013, Spain. Electronic address:
Theory predicts that performance-based habitat choice-where individuals select environments based on their local performance-should be widespread in nature and significantly influence ecological and evolutionary processes, including local adaptation, population divergence, reproductive isolation, and speciation. However, experimental evidence supporting these predictions has been largely lacking. In this study, we addressed this by inducing performance-based habitat choice in wild tree sparrows (Passer montanus) through the manipulation of differential access to transponder-operated feeders in two adjacent woodland areas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHeredity (Edinb)
December 2024
Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
R Soc Open Sci
June 2024
Universidade de Vigo, ECOEVO Lab, E. E. Forestal, Campus Universitario, Pontevedra 36005, Spain.
Males display phenotypic characteristics that may be associated with their quality, allowing non-random mating and post-copulatory female choice. In the damselfly , males have a conspicuous pink colouration in the underside of abdominal segments 8-10, which they exhibit during pre- and post-copulatory courtship. We hypothesized that this colouration functions to increase male mating success and/or to elicit females to oviposit.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!