Climate-mediated hybrid zone movement revealed with genomics, museum collection, and simulation modeling

Sean F. Ryan, Jillian M. Deines, J. Mark Scriber, Michael E. Pfrender, Stuart E. Jones, Scott J. Emrich, Jessica J. Hellmann

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

57 Scopus citations

Abstract

Climate-mediated changes in hybridization will dramatically alter the genetic diversity, adaptive capacity, and evolutionary trajectory of interbreeding species. Our ability to predict the consequences of such changes will be key to future conservation and management decisions. Here we tested through simulations how recent warming (over the course of a 32-y period) is affecting the geographic extent of a climate-mediated developmental threshold implicated in maintaining a butterfly hybrid zone (Papilio glaucus and Papilio canadensis; Lepidoptera: Papilionidae). These simulations predict a 68-km shift of this hybrid zone. To empirically test this prediction, we assessed genetic and phenotypic changes using contemporary and museum collections and document a 40-km northward shift of this hybrid zone. Interactions between the two species appear relatively unchanged during hybrid zone movement. We found no change in the frequency of hybridization, and regions of the genome that experience little to no introgression moved largely in concert with the shifting hybrid zone. Model predictions based on climate scenarios predict this hybrid zone will continue to move northward, but with substantial spatial heterogeneity in the velocity (55–144 km/1 °C), shape, and contiguity of movement. Our findings suggest that the presence of nonclimatic barriers (e.g., genetic incompatibilities) and/or nonlinear responses to climatic gradients may preserve species boundaries as the species shift. Further, we show that variation in the geography of hybrid zone movement could result in evolutionary responses that differ for geographically distinct populations spanning hybrid zones, and thus have implications for the conservation and management of genetic diversity.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)E2284-E2294
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume115
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 6 2018

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank Jason Dzurisin and Sarah Richman for their help in the collection of contemporary butterfly specimens and Mark Evans, Bob Hagen, Bob Lederhouse, Greg Lintereur, Heidi Luebke, Rick Lindroth, Maret Pajutee, Sally Rockey, and Jeff Thorne for their involvement in historical collections. Many thanks to Jacqueline Lopez and Melissa Stephens in the Notre Dame Genomics & Bioinformatics Core Facility for their advice in various aspects of experimental design of next-generation sequencing data collection. Historical collections were made possible through support from University of Wisconsin–Madison Agricultural Experiment Station and National Science Foundation (Grants DEB 79-21749 and DEB 8306063) and contemporary collections and molecular work supported by National Science Foundation Grants DEB-0918879 (to J.M.S.) and DEB-0919147 (to J.J.H.), and a grant from the Environmental Change Initiative at the University of Notre Dame (to S.F.R.).

Funding Information:
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. We thank Jason Dzurisin and Sarah Richman for their help in the collection of contemporary butterfly specimens and Mark Evans, Bob Hagen, Bob Lederhouse, Greg Lintereur, Heidi Luebke, Rick Lindroth, Maret Pajutee, Sally Rockey, and Jeff Thorne for their involvement in historical collections. Many thanks to Jacqueline Lopez and Melissa Stephens in the Notre Dame Genomics & Bioinformatics Core Facility for their advice in various aspects of experimental design of next-generation sequencing data collection. Historical collections were made possible through support from University of Wisconsin–Madison Agricultural Experiment Station and National Science Foundation (Grants DEB 79-21749 and DEB 8306063) and contemporary collections and molecular work supported by National Science Foundation Grants DEB-0918879 (to J.M.S.) and DEB-0919147 (to J.J.H.), and a grant from the Environmental Change Initiative at the University of Notre Dame (to S.F.R.).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 National Academy of Sciences. All Rights Reserved.

Keywords

  • Climate change
  • Cline
  • Diapause
  • Genomic
  • Hybridization

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