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Population Genomics of Birds: Evolutionary History and Conservation

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Book cover Population Genomics: Wildlife

Part of the book series: Population Genomics ((POGE))

Abstract

The use of genome-scale data to understand the evolutionary history of birds has provided important progress in the field of evolutionary biology and conservation. Here we review the conceptual advances of avian genomics, along with key examples from the literature. In each section, we contrast studies that utilized only a small number of genetic markers to studies that incorporated many independent loci across the genome. We discuss the important characteristics of avian genome architecture, and we explore the connections between DNA sequence variation and ecologically relevant phenotypes, such as color and morphology. We ask how environmental factors have left their mark on the genomes of birds and how genomic data can be used to reconstruct histories across multiple species. We outline how admixture and reticulate evolutionary histories have been an important source of variation and review cases in which hybridization has possibly led to the formation of new species. Finally, we discuss how genomic data have helped delineate population structure and inform conservation actions in declining avian species. Like in other taxonomic groups, the ever-expanding molecular toolbox for avian biologists is at once becoming more accessible in cost and more powerful in its applications. Therefore, the study of avian genomes will continue to provide important insights into many aspects of ecology, evolutionary history, and conservation biology.

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Acknowledgments

DPLT was supported by an NSERC Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship. JW was supported by NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology. The authors would like to thank Irby J. Lovette and the Fuller Evolutionary Biology Program for intellectual support and thank Eliot Miller, Gavin M. Leighton, and Paul Hohenlohe for comments on a previous version of this chapter.

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  1. Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    David P. L. Toews, Jennifer Walsh & Leonardo Campagna

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Correspondence to David P. L. Toews .

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    Paul A. Hohenlohe

  2. Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, Canada

    Om P. Rajora

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Toews, D.P.L., Walsh, J., Campagna, L. (2018). Population Genomics of Birds: Evolutionary History and Conservation. In: Hohenlohe, P.A., Rajora, O.P. (eds) Population Genomics: Wildlife. Population Genomics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/13836_2018_33

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