| the role of selection and historical factors in driving population differentiation along an elevational gradient in an island bird. | adaptation to local environmental conditions and the range dynamics of populations can influence evolutionary divergence along environmental gradients. thus, it is important to investigate patterns of both phenotypic and genetic variations among populations to reveal the respective roles of these two types of factors in driving population differentiation. here, we test for evidence of phenotypic and genetic structure across populations of a passerine bird (zosterops borbonicus) distributed along ... | 2016 | 26779843 |
| candidate gene analysis suggests untapped genetic complexity in melanin-based pigmentation in birds. | studies on melanin-based color variation in a context of natural selection have provided a wealth of information on the link between phenotypic and genetic variation. here, we evaluated associations between melanic plumage patterns and genetic polymorphism in the réunion grey white-eye (zosterops borbonicus), a species in which mutations on mc1r do not seem to play any role in explaining melanic variation. this species exhibits 5 plumage color variants that can be grouped into 3 color forms whic ... | 2016 | 26995742 |
| a novel locus on chromosome 1 underlies the evolution of a melanic plumage polymorphism in a wild songbird. | 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 reu ... | 2017 | 28386436 |
| narrow hybrid zones in spite of very low population differentiation in neutral markers in an island bird species complex. | patterns of phenotypic and genic frequencies across hybrid zones provide insight into the origin and evolution of reproductive isolation. the reunion grey white-eye, zosterops borbonicus, exhibits parapatrically distributed plumage colour forms across the lowlands of the small volcanic island of reunion (mascarene archipelago). these forms meet and hybridise in regions that are natural barriers to dispersal (rivers, lava fields). here, we investigated the relationship among patterns of different ... | 2017 | 28902471 |
| bird pollination in an angraecoid orchid on reunion island (mascarene archipelago, indian ocean). | although numerous angraecoid orchids in madagascar display typical sphingophilous syndrome (i.e. white, nectariferous, long-spurred flowers, producing a strong scent at the crepuscule that is attractive to moths), three species of angraecum in reunion, belonging to the endemic section hadrangis, have atypical unscented and short-spurred flowers. the aim of the study was to investigate the implication of plant-pollinator interaction on the evolution of floral morphology of these peculiar island f ... | 2006 | 16554310 |
| the geographic scale of diversification on islands: genetic and morphological divergence at a very small spatial scale in the mascarene grey white-eye (aves: zosterops borbonicus). | oceanic islands provide unique scenarios for studying the roles of geography and ecology in driving population divergence and speciation. assessing the relative importance of selective and neutral factors in driving population divergence is central to understanding how such divergence may lead to speciation in small oceanic islands, where opportunities for gene flow and population mixing are potentially high. here we report a case of genetic and morphological structure in the mascarene grey whit ... | 2010 | 20504327 |
| investigating the role of the melanocortin-1 receptor gene in an extreme case of microgeographical variation in the pattern of melanin-based plumage pigmentation. | the réunion grey white-eye (zosterops borbonicus) is a single-island endemic passerine bird that exhibits striking geographically structured melanic polymorphism at a very small spatial scale. we investigated the genetic basis of this color polymorphism by testing whether the melanocortin-1 receptor (mc1r), a gene often involved in natural melanic polymorphism in birds, was associated with the observed plumage variation. although we found three non-synonymous mutations, we detected no associatio ... | 2012 | 23227219 |
| extremely reduced dispersal and gene flow in an island bird. | the réunion grey white-eye, zosterops borbonicus, a passerine bird endemic to réunion island in the mascarene archipelago, represents an extreme case of microgeographical plumage colour variation in birds, with four distinct colour forms occupying different parts of this small island (2512 km(2)). to understand whether such population differentiation may reflect low levels of dispersal and gene flow at a very small spatial scale, we examined population structure and gene flow by analysing variat ... | 2014 | 24084644 |
| mass production of snp markers in a nonmodel passerine bird through rad sequencing and contig mapping to the zebra finch genome. | here, we present an adaptation of restriction-site-associated dna sequencing (rad-seq) to the illumina hiseq2000 technology that we used to produce snp markers in very large quantities at low cost per unit in the réunion grey white-eye (zosterops borbonicus), a nonmodel passerine bird species with no reference genome. we sequenced a set of six pools of 18-25 individuals using a single sequencing lane. this allowed us to build around 600 000 contigs, among which at least 386 000 could be mapped t ... | 2013 | 23855484 |
| differential divergence in autosomes and sex chromosomes is associated with intra-island diversification at a very small spatial scale in a songbird lineage. | recently diverged taxa showing marked phenotypic and ecological diversity provide optimal systems to understand the genetic processes underlying speciation. we used genome-wide markers to investigate the diversification of the reunion grey white-eye (zosterops borbonicus) on the small volcanic island of reunion (mascarene archipelago), where this species complex exhibits four geographical forms that are parapatrically distributed across the island and differ strikingly in plumage colour. one for ... | 2020 | 32107807 |
| within-island diversification in a passerine bird. | the presence of congeneric taxa on the same island suggests the possibility of in situ divergence, but can also result from multiple colonizations of previously diverged lineages. here, using genome-wide data from a large population sample, we test the hypothesis that intra-island divergence explains the occurrence of four geographical forms meeting at hybrid zones in the reunion grey white-eye (zosterops borbonicus), a species complex endemic to the small volcanic island of reunion. using popul ... | 2020 | 32183633 |