Inferring local adaptation from QST-FST comparisons: neutral genetic and quantitative trait variation in European populations of great snipe

We applied a phenotypic QST (PST) vs. FST approach to study spatial variation in selection among great snipe (Gallinago media) populations in two regions of northern Europe. Morphological divergence between regions was high despite low differentiation in selectively neutral genetic markers, whereas...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of evolutionary biology 2007-07, Vol.20 (4), p.1563-1576
Main Authors: SÆTHER, S.A, FISKE, P, KÅLÅS, J.A, KURESOO, A, LUIGUJÕE, L, PIERTNEY, S.B, SAHLMAN, T, HÖGLUND, J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biologi
Biology
Birds
Charadriiformes - genetics
Conservation of Natural Resources
conservation units
divergent selection
Europe
Evolutionary biology
Genetic Variation
Genetics, Population
local adaptation
microsatellite primers
Microsatellite Repeats - genetics
NATURAL SCIENCES
NATURVETENSKAP
partial Mantel test
Population genetics
Q ST
QST
Quantitative genetics
Quantitative Trait, Heritable
repeatability as heritability
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Summary:We applied a phenotypic QST (PST) vs. FST approach to study spatial variation in selection among great snipe (Gallinago media) populations in two regions of northern Europe. Morphological divergence between regions was high despite low differentiation in selectively neutral genetic markers, whereas populations within regions showed very little neutral divergence and trait differentiation. QST > FST was robust against altering assumptions about the additive genetic proportions of variance components. The homogenizing effect of gene flow (or a short time available for neutral divergence) has apparently been effectively counterbalanced by differential natural selection, although one trait showed some evidence of being under uniform stabilizing selection. Neutral markers can hence be misleading for identifying evolutionary significant units, and adopting the PST-FST approach might therefore be valuable when common garden experiments is not an option. We discuss the statistical difficulties of documenting uniform selection as opposed to divergent selection, and the need for estimating measurement error. Instead of only comparing overall QST and FST values, we advocate the use of partial matrix permutation tests to analyse pairwise QST differences among populations, while statistically controlling for neutral differentiation.
ISSN:1010-061X
1420-9101
1420-9101
DOI:10.1111/j.1420-9101.2007.01328.x