BUSCADOR RECOLECTA

Data for microsatellites, spectrophotometry and melanins dosage This file contains 1) microsatellites data in GENPOP format, 2) morphometric data for birds included in the pedigree analysis, 3) Spectrophotometry measurements and 4) Results from the dosage of melanins for 12 individuals. Localities coordinates are also provided. All_data_microsats_spectro_melanindosage.xlsx Unfiltered VCF file for 42 individuals SNPs calls for individual GBS data from the same three localities as in Pooled RAD-seq. Colors and localities for each individuals are provided in a separate excel file. Highlands_dataset.recode.vcf Information about individuals included in the GBS VCF file Morph and localities for each individual included in the GBS study. Localities_Morphs_individuals_VCF.xlsx, Understanding the mechanisms responsible for phenotypic diversification within and among species ultimately rests with linking naturally occurring mutations to functionally and ecologically significant traits. Colour polymorphisms are of great interest in this context because discrete colour patterns within a population are often controlled by just a few genes in a common environment. We investigated how and why phenotypic diversity arose and persists in the Zosterops borbonicus white-eye of Reunion (Mascarene archipelago), a colour polymorphic songbird in which all highland populations contain individuals belonging to either a brown or a grey plumage morph. Using extensive phenotypic and genomic data, we demonstrate that this melanin-based colour polymorphism is controlled by a single locus on chromosome 1 with two large-effect alleles, which was not previously described as affecting hair or feather colour. Differences between colour morphs appear to rely upon complex cis-regulatory variation that either prevents the synthesis of pheomelanin in grey feathers, or increases its production in brown ones. We used coalescent analyses to show that, from a ‘brown’ ancestral population, the dominant ‘grey’ allele spread quickly once it arose from a new mutation. Since colour morphs are always found in mixture, this implies that the selected allele does not go to fixation, but instead reaches an intermediate frequency, as would be expected under balancing selection., Peer reviewed

Microsatellite allele dataset Microsatellite genotypes of all individuals (n=590) separeted by locality (n=25). Genepop format was selected to create the dataset. chough_microsatellite_genotypes-GENEPOP.txt Field monitoring data The dataset includes the population of ringing, province of recapture/resighting and individual identity of the records for which the distance of movements was calculated (n = 9862). Field_monitoring_data.xls, Social barriers have been shown to reduce gene flow and contribute to genetic structure among populations in species with high cognitive capacity and complex societies, such as cetaceans, apes and humans. In birds, high dispersal capacity is thought to prevent population divergence unless major geographic or habitat barriers induce isolation patterns by dispersal, colonization or adaptation limitation. We report that Iberian populations of the red-billed chough, a social, gregarious corvid with high dispersal capacity, show a striking degree of genetic structure composed of at least 15 distinct genetic units. Monitoring of marked individuals over 30 years revealed that long-distance movements over hundreds of kilometres are common, yet recruitment into breeding populations is infrequent and highly philopatric. Genetic differentiation is weakly related to geographic distance and habitat types used are overall qualitatively similar among regions and regularly shared by individuals of different populations, so that genetic structure is unlikely to be due solely to isolation by distance or isolation by adaptation. Moreover, most population nuclei showed relatively high levels of genetic diversity, suggesting a limited role for genetic drift in significantly differentiating populations. We propose that social mechanisms may underlie this unprecedented level of genetic structure in birds through a pattern of isolation by social barriers not yet described, which may have driven this remarkable population divergence in the absence of geographic and environmental barriers., Peer reviewed