Abstract
Plant and animal populations can adapt to prolonged environmental changes if they have sufficient genetic variation in important phenological traits. The genetic regulation of annual cycles can be studied either via candidate genes or through the decomposition of phenotypic variance by quantitative genetics. Here, we combined both approaches to study the timing of migration in a long-distance migrant, the collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis). We found that none of the four studied candidate genes (CLOCK, NPAS2, ADCYAP1 and CREB1) had any consistent effect on the timing of six annual cycle stages of geolocator-tracked individuals. This negative result was confirmed by direct observations of males arriving in spring to the breeding site over four consecutive years. Although male spring arrival date was significantly repeatable (R = 0.24 ± 0.08 SE), most was attributable to permanent environmental effects, while the additive genetic variance and heritability were very low (h2 = 0.03 ± 0.17 SE). This low value constrains species evolutionary adaptation, and our study adds to warnings that such populations may be threatened, e.g. by ongoing climate change.
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Code availability
R code for the data handling, analyses and figures is available on the Dryad Digital Repository.
Data availability
All data files used for analyses presented in this manuscript are available on the Dryad Digital Repository.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Rudolf Dzuro, Anaïs Edme, Andrea Höchsmannová, Martin Janča, Pavel Javůrek, Tomáš Koutný, Miroslav Král, Pavlína Opatová, Lucile Pietrement, Honorine Renouard, Hana Ringlová, Julie Spurná, Jan Stříteský, Petra Šplíchalová, Jan Vidlař, Sandra Vikmane, Pavlína Vymazalová, Beáta Vyroubalová, Martin Zemánek and Petr Zobač for help in the field, and Steffen Hahn for help with geolocators. Barbara Helm and five other referees provided helpful comments.
Funding
Czech Science Foundation (17-24782S, 20-00648S) and Palacký University Grant scheme (IGA_PrF_2021_010).
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MK and PA designed the study, PM carried out the genotyping, MB extracted the data from geolocators, MK, MB and PA did the fieldwork, MK analysed the data and wrote the first draft, all authors contributed to revisions.
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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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All applicable institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. This study was approved by the ethical committee of Palacky University and by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (licence number: MSMT-56147/2012-310) and complies with the current laws of the Czech Republic.
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Communicated by Suvi Ruuskanen.
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Krist, M., Munclinger, P., Briedis, M. et al. The genetic regulation of avian migration timing: combining candidate genes and quantitative genetic approaches in a long-distance migrant. Oecologia 196, 373–387 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-04930-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-04930-x