Sea level rise-induced habitat loss does not alter effective migration rate for the salt marsh insect Tumidagena minuta due to large genetic effective population size
IntroductionAs anthropogenic change alters and fragments habitats, it is apparent that evolutionary change can co-occur with ecological change, though the scale and consequences of this contemporary evolution remain unclear. In coastal salt marshes of eastern North America, the flood tolerant low el...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-06-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2023.1160232/full |
| _version_ | 1797790946719432704 |
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| author | Billie Maguire Billie Maguire Jewel Tomasula Tyler Rippel Gina M. Wimp Matthew B. Hamilton |
| author_facet | Billie Maguire Billie Maguire Jewel Tomasula Tyler Rippel Gina M. Wimp Matthew B. Hamilton |
| author_sort | Billie Maguire |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | IntroductionAs anthropogenic change alters and fragments habitats, it is apparent that evolutionary change can co-occur with ecological change, though the scale and consequences of this contemporary evolution remain unclear. In coastal salt marshes of eastern North America, the flood tolerant low elevation marsh grass (Spartina alterniflora), is displacing Spartina patens, the flood intolerant high elevation marsh grass. Rising seas restrict S. patens, once occupying large areas of many hectares, to increasingly small patches, some as small as a few square meters. MethodsUsing nine microsatellite loci, we examined the genetic diversity and population structure of Tumidagena minuta, a minute, flightless planthopper and specialist herbivore of S. patens. We sampled T. minuta from S. patens habitat patches of varying radius (3–82 meters) and distances (54–1,100 meters) to test how landscape variation affects population genetic parameters associated with microevolutionary processes. We sampled and genotyped 142 T. minuta individuals across six S. patens patches in a single marsh in New Jersey, USA. ResultsWe observed high polymorphism, observing between 7 and 28 alleles per locus and an average of 13.3 alleles per locus. We observed no genetic differentiation among sampled patches (RST = −0.0109). The contemporary genetic effective population size (Ne) was estimated at approximately 360 (95% confidence interval: 208–1325) based on two-locus linkage disequilibrium. Based on an estimate of Nem = 32.4 in the finite island model, the estimated gene flow rate among these patches was 0.09 migrants per generation. DiscussionThese estimates, which are rarely produced for non-model insects, suggest that, despite rapid and precipitous decreases in habitat size and connectivity, T. minuta populations have remained large and have experienced little genetic differentiation due to drift. Ecological changes in patch size and isolation at this scale have not influenced population genetic processes like effective migration rate for T. minuta, consistent with our expectations for an insect with a large population size. |
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| id | doaj.art-222da93b4a6c4f19a4097a6e5b666e4e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-701X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T02:11:45Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
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| series | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
| spelling | doaj.art-222da93b4a6c4f19a4097a6e5b666e4e2023-06-30T20:56:27ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution2296-701X2023-06-011110.3389/fevo.2023.11602321160232Sea level rise-induced habitat loss does not alter effective migration rate for the salt marsh insect Tumidagena minuta due to large genetic effective population sizeBillie Maguire0Billie Maguire1Jewel Tomasula2Tyler Rippel3Gina M. Wimp4Matthew B. Hamilton5Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts, Boston, Boston, MA, United StatesDepartment of Biology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, United StatesDepartment of Biology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, United StatesDepartment of Biology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, United StatesDepartment of Biology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, United StatesDepartment of Biology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, United StatesIntroductionAs anthropogenic change alters and fragments habitats, it is apparent that evolutionary change can co-occur with ecological change, though the scale and consequences of this contemporary evolution remain unclear. In coastal salt marshes of eastern North America, the flood tolerant low elevation marsh grass (Spartina alterniflora), is displacing Spartina patens, the flood intolerant high elevation marsh grass. Rising seas restrict S. patens, once occupying large areas of many hectares, to increasingly small patches, some as small as a few square meters. MethodsUsing nine microsatellite loci, we examined the genetic diversity and population structure of Tumidagena minuta, a minute, flightless planthopper and specialist herbivore of S. patens. We sampled T. minuta from S. patens habitat patches of varying radius (3–82 meters) and distances (54–1,100 meters) to test how landscape variation affects population genetic parameters associated with microevolutionary processes. We sampled and genotyped 142 T. minuta individuals across six S. patens patches in a single marsh in New Jersey, USA. ResultsWe observed high polymorphism, observing between 7 and 28 alleles per locus and an average of 13.3 alleles per locus. We observed no genetic differentiation among sampled patches (RST = −0.0109). The contemporary genetic effective population size (Ne) was estimated at approximately 360 (95% confidence interval: 208–1325) based on two-locus linkage disequilibrium. Based on an estimate of Nem = 32.4 in the finite island model, the estimated gene flow rate among these patches was 0.09 migrants per generation. DiscussionThese estimates, which are rarely produced for non-model insects, suggest that, despite rapid and precipitous decreases in habitat size and connectivity, T. minuta populations have remained large and have experienced little genetic differentiation due to drift. Ecological changes in patch size and isolation at this scale have not influenced population genetic processes like effective migration rate for T. minuta, consistent with our expectations for an insect with a large population size.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2023.1160232/fullmicrosatellitesalt marshinsectglobal changeeffective population size |
| spellingShingle | Billie Maguire Billie Maguire Jewel Tomasula Tyler Rippel Gina M. Wimp Matthew B. Hamilton Sea level rise-induced habitat loss does not alter effective migration rate for the salt marsh insect Tumidagena minuta due to large genetic effective population size Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution microsatellite salt marsh insect global change effective population size |
| title | Sea level rise-induced habitat loss does not alter effective migration rate for the salt marsh insect Tumidagena minuta due to large genetic effective population size |
| title_full | Sea level rise-induced habitat loss does not alter effective migration rate for the salt marsh insect Tumidagena minuta due to large genetic effective population size |
| title_fullStr | Sea level rise-induced habitat loss does not alter effective migration rate for the salt marsh insect Tumidagena minuta due to large genetic effective population size |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sea level rise-induced habitat loss does not alter effective migration rate for the salt marsh insect Tumidagena minuta due to large genetic effective population size |
| title_short | Sea level rise-induced habitat loss does not alter effective migration rate for the salt marsh insect Tumidagena minuta due to large genetic effective population size |
| title_sort | sea level rise induced habitat loss does not alter effective migration rate for the salt marsh insect tumidagena minuta due to large genetic effective population size |
| topic | microsatellite salt marsh insect global change effective population size |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2023.1160232/full |
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