Selection and sex-biased dispersal in a coastal shark: The influence of philopatry on adaptive variation

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2015

Abstract

Sex-biased dispersal is expected to homogenize nuclear genetic variation relative to variation in genetic material inherited through the philopatric sex. When site fidelity occurs across a heterogeneous environment, local selective regimes may alter this pattern. We assessed spatial patterns of variation in nuclear-encoded, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and sequences of the mitochondrial control region in bonnethead sharks (Sphyrna tiburo), a species thought to exhibit female philopatry, collected from summer habitats used for gestation. Geographic patterns of mtDNA haplotypes and putatively neutral SNPs confirmed female philopatry and male-mediated gene flow along the northeastern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. A total of 30 outlier SNP loci were identified; alleles at over half of these loci exhibited signatures of latitude-associated selection. Our results indicate that in species with sex-biased dispersal, philopatry can facilitate sorting of locally adaptive variation, with the dispersing sex facilitating movement of potentially adaptive variation among locations and environments.

Publication Title

Molecular Ecology

Volume

24

Issue

23

First Page

5877

Last Page

5885

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1111/mec.13441

PubMed ID

26518727

ISSN

09621083

E-ISSN

1365294X

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