title: Genetic consequences of breaking migratory traditions in barnacle geese Branta leucopsis.
abstract: Cultural transmission of migratory traditions enables species to deal with their environment based on experiences from earlier generations. Also, it allows a more adequate and rapid response to rapidly changing environments. When individuals break with their migratory traditions, new population structures can emerge that may affect gene flow. Recently, the migratory traditions of the Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis changed, and new populations differing in migratory distance emerged. Here, we investigate the population genetic structure of the Barnacle Goose to evaluate the consequences of altered migratory traditions. We used a set of 358 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers to genotype 418 individuals from breeding populations in Greenland, Spitsbergen, Russia, Sweden and the Netherlands, the latter two being newly emerged populations. We used discriminant analysis of principal components, FST , linkage disequilibrium and a comparison of geneflow models using migrate-n to show that there is significant population structure, but that relatively many pairs of SNPs are in linkage disequilibrium, suggesting recent admixture between these populations. Despite the assumed traditions of migration within populations, we also show that genetic exchange occurs between all populations. The newly established nonmigratory population in the Netherlands is characterized by high emigration into other populations, which suggests more exploratory behaviour, possibly as a result of shortened parental care. These results suggest that migratory traditions in populations are subject to change in geese and that such changes have population genetic consequences. We argue that the emergence of nonmigration probably resulted from developmental plasticity.
authors.affiliation: Resource Ecology Group, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 3a, 6708 PB, Wageningen, The Netherlands; Department of Animal Behaviour, University of Bielefeld, Morgenbreede 45, 33615, Bielefeld, Germany.
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Jonker
authors.forename: R H S
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Kraus
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: van Hooft
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Larsson
authors.forename: H P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: van der Jeugd
authors.forename: R H J M
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Kurvers
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: van Wieren
authors.forename: M J J E
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Loonen
authors.forename: R P M A
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Crooijmans
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Ydenberg
authors.forename: M A M
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Groenen
authors.forename: H H T
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Prins
mesh_terms: D025041:Animal Migration; D000818:Animals; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D005777:Geese / Q000235:genetics*; D051456:Gene Flow; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005838:Genotype; D006116:Greenland; D015810:Linkage Disequilibrium; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009426:Netherlands; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D012426:Russia; D013538:Svalbard; D013548:Sweden
keywords: SNP; admixture; cultural evolution; migration modelling; population genetics; speciation