Biology subjects

Bowman, R.

Publications and source records attributed to Bowman, R..

18 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Indirect genetic effects across ontogeny in an avian cooperative breeder

Social interactions are ubiquitous in nature and have the potential to affect trait evolution, particularly in group-living animals such as cooperative breeders. Interactions among conspecific individuals can affect the amount of additive genetic variation for a trait when the phenotype of an individual is also affected by the genotype of its social partner(s) via indirect genetic effects. Thus, quantifying both direct and indirect genetic effects of social partners is critical for understanding and predicting evolutionary trajectories. While much is known about maternal indirect genetic effects, empirical estimates of indirect genetic effects from other social partners remain limited, particularly in wild populations. Here, we use animal models to assess the contribution of indirect genetic effects from all social partners in a family group (mothers, fathers, and helpers) on juvenile morphometric traits across ontogeny in the cooperatively-breeding Florida scrub-jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens). We found indirect genetic effects of helpers and fathers on nestling weight, but no indirect genetic effect of mothers. Across ontogeny, we found increasing additive genetic variation in both weight and tarsus length. Our study provides a comprehensive assessment of within-group indirect genetic effects in a cooperative breeder and highlights the importance of considering indirect genetic effects beyond maternal effects.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2026

Sustained multigenerational fitness benefits of natural immigration

The fitness of immigrants and their descendants determines the effectiveness of gene flow. Genetic incompatibilities or outbreeding depression can limit the spread of novel alleles, while highly fit immigrant lineages can hasten introgression. These fitness effects of gene flow can also differ between generations as immigrant and resident haplotypes recombine. Understanding the genetic factors that shape immigrant fitness over multiple generations is increasingly important as habitat fragmentation threatens populations by reducing genetic variation and leading to increased levels of inbreeding. Few studies have measured the multigenerational fitness of immigrant lineages, especially within populations that had histories of high gene flow. We used 33 years of life history and pedigree data on a population of Florida scrub-jays (Aphelocoma coerulescens) with historically high immigration to quantify the fitness of immigrants and their descendants. We compared the fitness of immigrants and residents as well as their resulting descendants (F1, F2, etc.) to determine the composite genetic effects responsible for fitness differences. We found evidence of additive benefits of immigrant ancestry and heterosis driven by non-additive effects that persists for multiple generations. These results are promising for conservation efforts aiming to increase connectivity and illustrate the complex dynamics that determine the rates of introgression in natural populations.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2025

Genome-wide associations of fitness components reveal antagonistic pleiotropy and sexual conflict in the Florida Scrub-Jay

Natural populations often exhibit substantial genetic variation in fitness-related traits, providing the raw material for adaptation. The persistence of high levels of genetic variation in the presence of genetic drift and directional selection has long puzzled evolutionary biologists1-3. Recent studies suggest that antagonistic pleiotropy may play a greater role than previously appreciated, highlighting the need for more empirical studies that consider both sexual antagonism and life-history trade-offs4. Here, we performed a comprehensive assessment of fitness trade-offs within and between sexes in an extensively monitored natural population of Florida Scrub-Jays (Aphelocoma coerulescens)5. We found significant additive genetic variance for female fitness and identified several loci associated with variation in survival, fecundity, and lifetime reproductive success. Many loci associated with multiple fitness components had antagonistic effects, particularly within males. Considering genome-wide polygenic effects, we found multiple genetic trade-offs both within and between sexes, especially when considering different fitness components between sexes. Comparing allele frequency trajectories for putatively pleiotropic loci demonstrated that antagonistic SNPs had smaller allele frequency changes than concordant SNPs. Our fine-scale dissection of fitness components reveals substantial antagonistic pleiotropy that affects short-term evolution, highlighting the importance of antagonistic selection in maintaining genetic variation over short time scales in nature.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2025

Context-Dependent Fitness Outcomes of Helping in the Cooperatively-Breeding Florida Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens)

Cooperatively breeding species frequently live in family groups of related individuals, with helpers delaying their own reproduction and participating in alloparental care, predator vigilance, and territory defense. It remains challenging to disentangle the roles of the indirect fitness benefits of helping kin and the potential direct fitness benefits helpers receive in the evolution of cooperative breeding. While many studies test for associations between helper relatedness and helping effort, few estimate the realized fitness consequences of helping in relation to these factors. Understanding these fitness outcomes elucidates the selective forces that maintain helping behavior, whether through inclusive fitness gains by helping related individuals or as a means of gaining access to later direct fitness benefits. Using 29 years of extensive demographic data from a closely monitored population of Florida scrub-jays (Aphelocoma coerulescens), we quantified the effect of helpers on breeder survival, offspring survival, and nestling production and how these effects depend on relatedness and sex of helpers. We found that female breeder survival was significantly greater when more helpers were present and that offspring survival was greater when more male helpers were present on small territories. Neither effect of helpers depended on the relatedness between helpers and the individuals they helped. Our results suggest that helping behavior is highly context-dependent and varies based on the potential impact of helping and the direct fitness benefits helpers receive.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2025

Long-term editing of brain circuits in mice using an engineered electrical synapse

Electrical signaling across distinct populations of brain cells underpins cognitive and emotional function; however, approaches that selectively regulate electrical signaling between two cellular components of a mammalian neural circuit remain sparse. Here, we engineered an electrical synapse composed of two connexin proteins found in Morone americana (white perch fish) - connexin34.7 and connexin35 - to accomplish mammalian circuit modulation. By exploiting protein mutagenesis, devising a new in vitro system for assaying connexin hemichannel docking, and performing computational modeling of hemichannel interactions, we uncovered a structural motif that contributes to electrical synapse formation. Targeting these motifs, we designed connexin34.7 and connexin35 hemichannels that dock with each other to form an electrical synapse, but not with other major connexins expressed in the mammalian central nervous system. We validated this electrical synapse in vivo using C. elegans and mice, demonstrating that it can strengthen communication across neural circuits composed of pairs of distinct cell types and modify behavior accordingly. Thus, we establish Long-term integration of Circuits using connexins (LinCx) for precision circuit-editing in mammals.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Targetable Treatment Resistance in Thyroid Cancer with Clonal Hematopoiesis

Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is a clinically aggressive malignancy with a dismal prognosis. Combined BRAF/MEK inhibition offers significant therapeutic benefit in patients with BRAFV600E-mutant ATCs. However, relapses are common and overall survival remains poor. Compared with differentiated thyroid cancer, a hallmark of ATCs is significant infiltration with myeloid cells, particularly macrophages. ATCs are most common in the aging population, which also has an increased incidence of TET2-mutant clonal hematopoiesis (CH). CH-mutant macrophages have been shown to accelerate CH-associated pathophysiology including atherosclerosis. However, the clinical and mechanistic contribution of CH-mutant clones to solid tumour biology, prognosis and therapeutic response has not been elucidated. Here we show that TET2-mutant CH is enriched in the tumour microenvironment of patients with solid tumours and associated with adverse prognosis in ATC patients. We find that Tet2-mutant macrophages selectively infiltrate mouse BrafV600E-mutant ATC and that their overexpression of Tgf{beta}-family ligands mediates resistance to BRAF/MEK inhibition. Importantly, inhibition of Tgf{beta} signaling restores sensitivity to MAPK pathway inhibition, opening a path for synergistic strategies to improve outcomes of patients with ATCs and concurrent CH.

cancer biology↗

bioRxiv2024

Lifetime fitness benefits of breeding site fidelity and low costs of inbreeding permit inbreeding tolerance in an avian cooperative breeder

Breeding with relatives often decreases individual fitness but can be mitigated via inbreeding avoidance mechanisms such as dispersal, mate-switching, and kin avoidance. Disentangling the effects of multiple mechanisms is challenging without detailed individual-level data and incomplete without considering all life stages. We leveraged 32 years of data from a population of Florida Scrub-Jays (Aphelocoma coerulescens) to investigate how dispersal and mate choice contribute to inbreeding risk across individuals lifetimes and quantify the associated fitness outcomes. We find that when mating is random, inbreeding is two-fold higher when dispersal is limited, but adding sex-biased dispersal significantly reduces inbreeding risk. Limited movement away from the breeding territory for later pairings (site fidelity) contributes more to higher-than-expected levels of inbreeding than limited natal dispersal. Within observed dispersal constraints, however, inbreeding is lower than expected under random mating, suggesting Florida Scrub-Jays actively avoid mating with relatives, especially first-order kin. Finally, males paired with close relatives and females who move farther for later pairings experience equivalently lower lifetime reproductive success. Breeders who move farther for first pairings have lower survival. Overall, our results show how variation in fitness tradeoffs and mate choice behavior across life stages affects inbreeding in a long-lived, social species.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2024

Distinct intersecting pathways link homolog pairing to initiation of meiotic chromosome synapsis

Faithful meiotic segregation requires pairwise alignment of the homologous chromosomes and Synaptonemal Complex assembly (SC) at their interface. Here, we investigate on new factors that promote and coordinate these events during C. elegans meiosis. We identify BRA-2 (BMP Receptor Associated family member 2) as an interactor of HIM-17, previously shown to promote double-strand break formation. We found that loss of bra-2 specifically impairs synapsis licensing without affecting homologs recognition, SC maintenance or chromosome movement. Double mutant analysis revealed a previously unrecognized role for HIM-17 in promoting homolog pairing under dysfunctional SC assembly, without perturbing nuclear envelope recruitment of factors required for chromosome movement. We provide evidence that bra-2 and him-17 act in distinct pathways, exerting partially redundant functions in SC licensing, as well as separable roles in regulating homologs pairing. Altogether, our findings unveil novel mechanisms that ensure stabilization of homologous chromosome interaction via SC licensing upon homology assessment.

cell biology↗

bioRxiv2024

Impacts of increasing isolation and environmental variation on Florida Scrub-Jay demography

Isolation caused by anthropogenic habitat fragmentation can destabilize populations. Populations relying on the inflow of immigrants can face reduced fitness due to inbreeding depression as fewer new individuals arrive. Empirical studies of the demographic consequences of isolation are critical to understand how populations persist through changing conditions. We used a 34-year demographic and environmental dataset from a population of cooperatively-breeding Florida Scrub-Jays (Aphelocoma coerulescens) to create mechanistic models linking environmental and demographic factors to population growth rates. We found that the population has not declined despite both declining immigration and increasing inbreeding, owing to a coinciding response in breeder survival. We find evidence of density-dependent immigration, breeder survival, and fecundity, indicating that interactions between vital rates and local density play a role in buffering the population against change. Our study elucidates the impacts of isolation on demography and how long-term stability is maintained via demographic responses.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2023

Translocations spur population growth but exacerbate inbreeding in an imperiled species

Land and natural resource usage that supports human society can pose a risk to the survival of other species, spurring biodiversity loss. In extreme cases, when development threatens the existence of individuals, wildlife managers may perform mitigation translocations, relocating individuals out of harms way. We investigated the efficacy of mitigation translocations as a conservation strategy in Federally Threatened Florida Scrub-Jays using a dataset that provided unprecedented resolution into both the demographic and genomic outcomes of translocations. Over the course of seven years, a total of fourteen groups (51 jays) from five subpopulations that had been declining from agriculture and lack-of-fire driven habitat degradation were translocated to a larger site of more contiguous restored habitat with only four family groups, to mitigate for loss of these subpopulations from mining activity. Habitat restoration and translocations established a core population that increased 10-fold in size after only 17 years from the first translocations. Pedigree analyses of this population revealed that a small subset of mostly translocated individuals fueled the demographic expansion, with a single breeding pair responsible for [~]24% of the ancestral genetic contributions since 2008. Genomic comparisons between translocated individuals and individuals from the core population before and after translocations revealed that the high reproductive skew led to increased inbreeding and loss of genetic diversity. This study stresses the importance of demographic and genetic monitoring following translocations, and that subsequent, genetic-rescue-oriented translocations may be necessary in mitigation scenarios to counter the genetic consequences of reproductive skew in fragmented populations. Significance StatementThere is ongoing debate surrounding the effectiveness of mitigation-driven translocations for conservation, however we show that translocations to mitigate the effects of mining on Federally Threatened Florida Scrub-Jays spurred population growth; a major boon to the viability of this species. We translocated individuals from at-risk subpopulations that were demographic sinks into recently restored habitat, which quickly established a rapidly growing core population. We demonstrate that demographic and genetic recovery do not necessarily go hand-in-hand, as reproduction was highly skewed towards a small subset of mostly translocated individuals, which increased inbreeding and eroded genetic diversity. This stresses the importance of demographic and genetic monitoring for identifying reproductive skew, allowing for adaptive management that addresses inbreeding and achieves broader conservation goals.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2023

Fecal microbial transfer and complex carbohydrates mediate protection against COPD

ObjectiveChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major cause of global illness and death, most commonly caused by cigarette smoke. The mechanisms of pathogenesis remain poorly understood, limiting the development of effective therapies. The gastrointestinal microbiome has been implicated in chronic lung diseases via the gut-lung axis, but its role is unclear. DesignUsing an in vivo mouse model of cigarette smoke-induced COPD and fecal microbial transfer (FMT), we characterized the fecal microbiota using metagenomics, proteomics and metabolomics. Findings were correlated with airway and systemic inflammation, lung and gut histopathology, and lung function. Complex carbohydrates were assessed in mice using a high resistant starch diet, and in sixteen COPD patients using a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study of inulin supplementation. ResultsFMT alleviated hallmark features of COPD (inflammation, alveolar destruction, impaired lung function), gastrointestinal pathology and systemic immune changes. Protective effects were additive to smoking cessation. Disease features correlated with the relative abundance of Muribaculaceae, Desulfovibrionaceae and Lachnospiraceae family members. Proteomics and metabolomics identified downregulation of glucose and starch metabolism in cigarette smoke-associated microbiota, and supplementation of mice or human patients with complex carbohydrates improved disease outcomes. ConclusionThe gut microbiome contributes to COPD pathogenesis and can be targeted therapeutically. What is already known on this topicO_LIChanges in gut microbiota are associated with COPD but the underlying host and microbial mechanisms are unclear, limiting the therapeutic applications. C_LI What this study addsO_LIMicrobiome composition and metabolism is reproducibly correlated with lung and gastrointestinal pathology in experimental COPD. C_LIO_LIMicrobiome modifying interventions effectively alleviate disease, including protective effects supplementing smoking cessation. C_LIO_LINutritional interventions targeting the microbiome in COPD patients demonstrate efficacy in a small pilot study. C_LI How this study might affect research, practice or policyO_LIMicrobiome-targeting therapeutics and nutritional interventions may be developed for COPD, including as supplements to smoking cessation. C_LI

physiology↗

bioRxiv2023

Prospecting is physiologically costly in a resident cooperative breeder, the Florida scrub-jay

Prospecting is an understudied yet pivotal information-gathering process often preceding natal dispersal. While prospecting may enable individuals to optimise dispersal outcomes and obtain high quality territories, it is also likely to incur costs stemming from energy expenditure and predation risks. This trade-off may drive individual differences in prospecting effort. We tested for evidence of costs of prospecting behaviour in a wild population of Florida scrub-jays, Aphelocoma coerulescens, which prospect as nonbreeding helpers. Using random sampling across all helpers, we compared prospecting effort--approximated by frequency, distance, and activity level--with body mass changes and oxidative stress levels. We tested if prospecting incurred costs and if early-life body condition predicted subsequent prospecting effort. Prospecting frequency was positively linked to oxidative damage but not to any loss in body mass during the breeding season, suggesting that extra-territorial movement costs manifest unevenly. Early-stage body condition did not affect subsequent prospecting effort across a large set of helpers, but early-stage body condition and morphometric measures did correlate with subsequent oxidative status of those sampled. Our results suggest that prospecting movement carries some physiological costs, perhaps contributing to individual differences in prospecting. This research highlights how body condition plays a role in trade-offs between information gathering movement and physiological costs of movement itself, ultimately providing insight on the evolution of prospecting in social species. HIGHLIGHTSO_LIProspecting prior to breeding enables informed dispersal but incurs cost C_LIO_LIWe tested whether prospecting by nonbreeding Florida scrub-jays results in physiological costs or varies with initial condition C_LIO_LIWe measured oxidative status using assays testing antioxidant capacity and oxidative damage C_LIO_LIFrequent prospecting was linked to subsequent oxidative damage C_LIO_LIEarly-stage body condition and wing length affected subsequent oxidative status C_LI

ecology↗

bioRxiv2021

Allele frequency dynamics under sex-biased demography and sex-specific inheritance in a pedigreed population

Sex-biased demography, including sex-biased survival or migration, can alter allele frequency changes across the genome. In particular, we can expect different patterns of genetic variation on autosomes and sex chromosomes due to sex-specific differences in life histories, as well as differences in effective population size, transmission modes, and the strength and mode of selection. Here, we demonstrate the role that sex differences in life history played in shaping short-term evolutionary dynamics across the genome. We used a 25-year pedigree and genomic dataset from a long-studied population of Florida Scrub-Jays (Aphelocoma coerulescens) to directly characterize the relative roles of sex-biased demography and inheritance in shaping genome-wide allele frequency trajectories. We used gene dropping simulations to estimate individual genetic contributions to future generations and to model drift and immigration on the known pedigree. We quantified differential expected genetic contributions of males and females over time, showing the impact of sex-biased dispersal in a monogamous system. Due to female-biased dispersal, more autosomal variation is introduced by female immigrants. However, due to male-biased transmission, more Z variation is introduced by male immigrants. Finally, we partitioned the proportion of variance in allele frequency change through time due to male and female contributions. Overall, most allele frequency change is due to variance in survival and births. Males and females make similar contributions to autosomal allele frequency change, but males make higher contributions to allele frequency change on the Z chromosome. Our work shows the importance of understanding sex-specific demographic processes in characterizing genome-wide allele frequency change in wild populations.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2021

Long-term precision editing of neural circuits using engineered gap junction hemichannels

The coordination of activity between brain cells is a key determinant of neural circuit function; nevertheless, approaches that selectively regulate communication between two distinct cellular components of a mammalian circuit remain sparse. To address this gap, we developed a novel class of gap junctions by selectively engineering two connexin proteins found in Morone americana (white perch fish): connexin34.7 (Cx34.7) and connexin35 (Cx35). By iteratively exploiting protein mutagenesis, a novel in vitro assay of connexin docking, and computational modeling of connexin hemichannel interactions, we uncovered a pattern of structural motifs that contribute to hemichannel docking compatibility. Targeting these motifs, we designed Cx34.7 and Cx35 hemichannels that dock with each other, but not with themselves, nor with other major connexins expressed in the mammalian central nervous system. We validated these hemichannels in vivo using C. elegans and mice, demonstrating that they can facilitate communication across neural circuits composed of pairs of distinct cell types and modify behavior accordingly. Thus, we establish a potentially translational approach, Long-term integration of Circuits using connexins (LinCx), for context-precise circuit-editing with unprecedented spatiotemporal specificity in mammals.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

An Open-Source Modular Framework for Automated Pipetting and Imaging Applications

The number of samples in biological experiments are continuously increasing, but complex protocols and human experimentation in many cases lead to suboptimal data quality and hence difficulties in reproducing scientific findings. Laboratory automation can alleviate many of these problems by precisely reproducing machine-readable protocols. These instruments generally require high up-front investments and due to lack of open APIs they are notoriously difficult for scientists to customize and control outside of the vendor-supplied software. Here, we demonstrate automated, high-throughput experiments for interdisciplinary research in life science that can be replicated on a modest budget, using open tools to ensure reproducibility by combining the tools Openflexure, Opentrons, ImJoy and UC2. Our automated sample preparation and imaging pipeline can easily be replicated and established in many laboratories as well as in educational contexts through easy-to-understand algorithms and easy-to-build microscopes. Additionally, the creation of feedback loops, with later pipetting or imaging steps depending on analysis of previously acquired images, enables the realization of smart microscopy experiments, featuring completely autonomously performed experiments. All documents and source-files are publicly available (https://beniroquai.github.io/Hi2) to prove the concept of smart lab automation using inexpensive, open tools. We believe this democratizes access to the power and repeatability of automated experiments.

cell biology↗

bioRxiv2019

Robotic microscopy for everyone: the OpenFlexure Microscope

Optical microscopes are an essential tool for both the detection of disease in clinics, and for scientific analysis. However, in much of the world access to high-performance microscopy is limited by both the upfront cost and maintenance cost of the equipment. Here we present an open-source, 3D-printed, and fully-automated laboratory microscope, with motorised sample positioning and focus control. The microscope is highly customisable, with a number of options readily available including trans- and epi-illumination, polarisation contrast imaging, and epi-florescence imaging. The OpenFlexure Microscope has been designed to enable low-volume manufacturing and maintenance by local personnel, vastly increasing accessibility. We have produced over 100 microscopes in Tanzania and Kenya for educational, scientific, and clinical applications, demonstrating that local manufacturing can be a viable alternative to international supply chains that can often be costly, slow, and unreliable.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2018

Allele frequency dynamics in a pedigreed natural population

A central goal of population genetics is to understand how genetic drift, natural selection, and gene flow shape allele frequencies through time. However, the actual processes underlying these changes - variation in individual survival, reproductive success, and movement - are often difficult to quantify. Fully understanding these processes requires the population pedigree, the set of relationships among all individuals in the population through time. Here, we use extensive pedigree and genomic information from a long-studied natural population of Florida Scrub-Jays (Aphelocoma coerulescens) to directly characterize the relative roles of different evolutionary processes in shaping patterns of genetic variation through time. We performed gene dropping simulations to estimate individual genetic contributions to the population and model drift on the known pedigree. We found that observed allele frequency changes are generally well predicted by accounting for the different genetic contributions of founders. Our results show that the genetic contribution of recent immigrants is substantial, with some large allele frequency shifts that otherwise may have been attributed to selection actually due to gene flow. We identified a few SNPs under directional short-term selection after appropriately accounting for gene flow. Using models that account for changes in population size, we partitioned the proportion of variance in allele frequency change through time. Observed allele frequency changes are primarily due to variation in survival and reproductive success, with gene flow making a smaller contribution. This study provides one of the most complete descriptions of short-term evolutionary change in allele frequencies in a natural population to date.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2016

Deconstructing isolation-by-distance: the genomic consequences of limited dispersal

Geographically limited dispersal can shape genetic population structure and result in a correlation between genetic and geographic distance, commonly called isolation-bydistance. Despite the prevalence of isolation-by-distance in nature, to date few studies have empirically demonstrated the processes that generate this pattern, largely because few populations have direct measures of individual dispersal and pedigree information. Intensive, long-term demographic studies and exhaustive genomic surveys in the Florida Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens) provide an excellent opportunity to investigate the influence of dispersal on genetic structure. Here, we used a panel of genome-wide SNPs and extensive pedigree information to explore the role of limited dispersal in shaping patterns of isolation-by-distance in both sexes, and at an exceedingly fine spatial scale (within ~10 km). Isolation-by-distance patterns were stronger in male-male and male-female comparisons than in female-female comparisons, consistent with observed differences in dispersal propensity between the sexes. Using the pedigree, we demonstrated how various genealogical relationships contribute to fine-scale isolation-by-distance. Simulations using field-observed distributions of male and female natal dispersal distances showed good agreement with the distribution of geographic distances between breeding individuals of different pedigree relationship classes. Furthermore, we extended Malecots theory of isolation-by-distance by building coalescent simulations parameterized by the observed dispersal curve, population density, and immigration rate, and showed how incorporating these extensions allows us to accurately reconstruct observed sex-specific isolation-by-distance patterns in autosomal and Z-linked SNPs. Therefore, patterns of fine-scale isolation-by-distance in the Florida Scrub-Jay can be well understood as a result of limited dispersal over contemporary timescales.\n\nAuthor SummaryDispersal is a fundamental component of the life history of most organisms and therefore influences many biological processes. Dispersal is particularly important in creating genetic structure on the landscape. We often observe a pattern of decreased genetic relatedness between individuals as geographic distances increases, or isolation-by-distance. This pattern is particularly pronounced in organisms with extremely short dispersal distances. Despite the ubiquity of isolation-by-distance patterns in nature, there are few examples that explicitly demonstrate how limited dispersal influences spatial genetic structure. Here we investigate the processes that result in spatial genetic structure using the Florida Scrub-Jay, a bird with extremely limited dispersal behavior and extensive genome-wide data. We take advantage of the long-term monitoring of a contiguous population of Florida Scrub-Jays, which has resulted in a detailed pedigree and measurements of dispersal for hundreds of individuals. We show how limited dispersal results in close genealogical relatives living closer together geographically, which generates a strong pattern of isolation-by-distance at an extremely small spatial scale (<10 km) in just a few generations. Given the detailed dispersal, pedigree, and genomic data, we can achieve a fairly complete understanding of how dispersal shapes patterns of genetic diversity over short spatial scales.

evolutionary biology↗