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Seasonal migration is highly labile from an evolutionary perspective and known to rapidly evolve in response to selective pressures. However, long‐distance migratory birds rely partially on innate genetic programs and may be constrained in their ability to alter their migratory behavior. We take advantage of recent advances in our ability to genotype historical DNA samples to examine the temporal stability of migratory connections between breeding and nonbreeding populations (i.e. migratory connectivity) and population‐level nonbreeding distributions in the Wilson's warblerCardellina pusilla, a long‐distance migratory songbird. By assigning historical and contemporary samples collected across the nonbreeding range to genetically distinct breeding clusters, we suggest that broad‐scale population‐level nonbreeding distributions within this species have remained largely consistent within Mexico from the mid‐1900s to the present day. These findings support the idea that the nonbreeding distributions of long‐distance migrants may remain stable over long time scales, even in the face of rapid environmental change. 

Abstract Conservation units (CUs) are an essential tool for maximizing evolutionary potential and prioritizing areas across a species’ range for protection when implementing conservation and management measures. However, current workflows for identifying CUs on the basis of neutral and adaptive genomic variation largely ignore information contained in patterns of isolation by distance (IBD), frequently the primary signal of population structure in highly mobile taxa, such as birds, bats, and marine organisms with pelagic larval stages. While individuals located on either end of a species’ distribution may exhibit clear genetic, phenotypic, and ecological differences, IBD produces subtle changes in allele frequencies across space, making it difficult to draw clear boundaries for conservation purposes in the absence of discrete population structure. Here, we highlight potential pitfalls that arise when applying common methods for delineating CUs to continuously distributed organisms and review existing methods for detecting subtle breakpoints in patterns of IBD that can indicate barriers to gene flow in highly mobile taxa. In addition, we propose a new framework for identifying CUs in all organisms, including those characterized by continuous genomic differentiation, and suggest several possible ways to harness the information contained in patterns of IBD to guide conservation and management decisions. 

Abstract Recently diverged taxa often exhibit heterogeneous landscapes of genomic differentiation, characterized by regions of elevated differentiation on an otherwise homogeneous background. While divergence peaks are generally interpreted as regions responsible for reproductive isolation, they can also arise due to background selection, selective sweeps unrelated to speciation, and variation in recombination and mutation rates. To investigate the association between patterns of recombination and landscapes of genomic differentiation during the early stages of speciation, we generated fine-scale recombination maps for six southern capuchino seedeaters (Sporophila) and two subspecies of White Wagtail (Motacilla alba), two recent avian radiations in which divergent selection on pigmentation genes has likely generated peaks of differentiation. We compared these recombination maps to those of Collared (Ficedula albicollis) and Pied Flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca), non-sister taxa characterized by moderate genomic divergence and a heterogenous landscape of genomic differentiation shaped in part by background selection. Although recombination landscapes were conserved within all three systems, we documented a weaker negative correlation between recombination rate and genomic differentiation in the recent radiations. All divergence peaks between capuchinos, wagtails, and flycatchers were located in regions with lower-than-average recombination rates, and most divergence peaks in capuchinos and flycatchers fell in regions of exceptionally reduced recombination. Thus, co-adapted allelic combinations in these regions may have been protected early in divergence, facilitating rapid diversification. Despite largely conserved recombination landscapes, divergence peaks are specific to each focal comparison in capuchinos, suggesting that regions of elevated differentiation have not been generated by variation in recombination rate alone. 

Abstract High-quality reference genomes are fundamental tools for understanding population history, and can provide estimates of genetic and demographic parameters relevant to the conservation of biodiversity. The federally endangered Pacific pocket mouse (PPM), which persists in three small, isolated populations in southern California, is a promising model for studying how demographic history shapes genetic diversity, and how diversity in turn may influence extinction risk. To facilitate these studies in PPM, we combined PacBio HiFi long reads with Omni-C and Hi-C data to generate a de novo genome assembly, and annotated the genome using RNAseq. The assembly comprised 28 chromosome-length scaffolds (N50 = 72.6 MB) and the complete mitochondrial genome, and included a long heterochromatic region on chromosome 18 not represented in the previously available short-read assembly. Heterozygosity was highly variable across the genome of the reference individual, with 18% of windows falling in runs of homozygosity (ROH) >1 MB, and nearly 9% in tracts spanning >5 MB. Yet outside of ROH, heterozygosity was relatively high (0.0027), and historical Ne estimates were large. These patterns of genetic variation suggest recent inbreeding in a formerly large population. Currently the most contiguous assembly for a heteromyid rodent, this reference genome provides insight into the past and recent demographic history of the population, and will be a critical tool for management and future studies of outbreeding depression, inbreeding depression, and genetic load.