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ORGANISATION
CIBIO (Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, University of Porto, Portugal) and
InBio Associate Laboratory
Campus Agrário de Vairão
R. Padre Armando Quintas
4485-661 Vairão, Portugal
Phone: (00351) 252660411
Fax: (00351) 252661780
e-mail: [email protected]
web page: http://cibio.up.pt
TiBE2011’s Organizing Committee
Conservation Genetics and Wildlife Management research group (ConGen)
Paulo Célio Alves
Raquel Vasconcelos
Ricardo Lopes
TiBE’s Permanent Organizing Committee
Population Genetics, hybridisation and speciation group (PopGen)
Catarina Pinho
José Melo Ferreira
Nuno Ferrand
Rui Faria
TiBE2011’ staff
Registration (CIBIO) Logistics (ACAV)
Joana Nogueira
Joana Vilela
Fátima Jorge
Fernando Seixas
Bernardino Silva
Filipa Magalhães
Teresa Sousa
Accounting (ICETA)
João Andrade
TiBE’s web and design
Daniel Cunha
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ABOUT
TiBE 2011: New Challenges in Conservation Genetics
TiBE, Trends in Biodiversity and Evolution, is an annual meeting organised by CIBIO,
Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources/InBio, Associate laboratory. These
meetings aim to bring together senior researchers, post-graduate and graduate students in
Biological Sciences, and promote a relaxing but insightful discussion about cutting edge topics
on Biodiversity and Evolution. Each year a specific subject will be chosen, and recognised senior
scientists will be invited to report their views, opinions and novel results. Young researchers
and post-graduate students will also be invited to participate and present their recent and
innovative work.
TiBE 2011 is devoted to "New Challenges in Conservation Genetics", a discipline which has
received considerable attention in recent years by evolutionary biologists, and has voraciously
incorporated many technologies to speed up and increase the accuracy of conservation
decision-making. It takes place at December 5 - 6th in Campus Agrário de Vairão, University of
Porto, and is hosted by ConGen-Conservation Genetics and Wildlife Management research group, at CIBIO.
The scientific program includes four invited plenary lectures from prominent researchers, 16 oral
communications (to be selected from participants) and two poster sessions covering the most
up-to-date findings in this field of evolutionary biology.
We hope that the University Porto-Campus of Vairão, located in a beautiful rural area in Vila do
Conde (20 km north of Porto), will provide an excellent atmosphere for such scientific forum in
one of the most interesting and stimulating areas of Biology.
E-mail : [email protected]
Web page: http://www.cibio-tibe.org
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SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMME
5th DECEMBER
8.00 - 9.00 Bus transfer passing from Estalagem Brasão, Villa C Hotel and metro station
to Campus Agrário de Vairão
9.00 Registration
9.30 Opening session
SESSION 1. Population Genetics and Conservation
9.40 Plenary lecture - "Spatially explicit Approximate Bayesian Computation:
lessons from owls and humans"
Jérôme Goudet (Department of Ecology and Evolution, Faculté de Biologie et
de Médecine, Université de Lausanne, Switzerland)
10.30 Coffee break
11.00 T1.1 Species delimitation based on population genetic parameters
Catarina Pinho
11.20 T1.2 Application of the unified species concept reveals distinct lineages for
disjunct endemics threatened with extinction in the Brassica repanda
(Brassicaceae) complex
Margherita Lega
11.40 T1.3 Cryptic speciation in the field vole: a multilocus approach confirms highly
divergent lineages in Europe
Joana Paupério
12.00 T1.4 The curious case of Bradypus variegatus (common sloth) microsatellites
Sofia Silva
12.20 Lunch
14.30 Plenary lecture - "Very spatial indeed: some consequences of space (and
time) on population genetics inference"
Lounès Chikhi (CNRS, UMR 5174, Evolution et Diversité Biologique,
Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France & Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência,
Oeiras, Portugal)
15.20 T1.5 The role of central and marginal populations in genetic connectivity of
Iberian pines
Iva Kovačić
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15.40 T1.6 Evolutionary conservation biology of the Mediterranean red coral
Jean-Baptiste Ledoux
16.00 Coffee break
16.30 T1.7 Environmentally-driven population structure of the bluefin tuna in the
Mediterranean Sea
Giulia Riccioni
16.50 T1.8 Estimating the historical divergence of Iberian wolf populations
Pedro Silva
17.10 T1.9 Spatial and temporal patterns of population structure of humpback
whales in west coast of Africa
Inês Carvalho
17.30 Poster session 1
18.30 Free buffet
21.00 - 21.30 Bus transfer from Campus Agrário de Vairão to metro station, Estalagem
Brasão, and Villa C Hotel
6th DECEMBER
8.30 - 9.30 Bus transfer passing from Estalagem Brasão, Villa C Hotel and metro station
to Campus Agrário de Vairão
9.40 Plenary lecture - "The interaction between genetic, environmental and
epigenetic variation: effects of inbreeding"
Philippine Vergeer (Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands)
10.20 T1.10 Signature of a pre-human population collapse in the critically
endangered Reunion Island endemic forest bird Coracina newtoni
Jordi Salmona
11.00 Coffee break
11.20 T1.11 Phylogeography and conservation of a long-range disperser: the
example of Necora puber
Joana do Nascimento
11.40 T1.12 Tracking invasion histories in the sea using multilocus data and ABC
methods
Marta Pascual
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12.00 T1.13 The impact of the social structure on patterns of genetic diversity: a
simulation approach
Bárbara Parreira
12.20 Lunch
SESSION 2. From Conservation Genetics to Conservation Genomics
14.30 Plenary lecture - "Targeted population genomics in non-model species"
Jeffrey M. Good (Department of Biological Sciences, University of Montana,
USA)
15.20 T2.1 Towards "on-the-spot" analysis: Population proteomics of European hake
Elena G. González
15.40 T2.2 Population structure as revealed by SNPs in the Iberian honey bee (Apis
mellifera iberiensis)
Julio César Chávez-Galarza
16.00 Coffee break
16.30 T2.3 Conservation genetics on Islands, a case study of the Canarian Egyptian
vulture
Rosa Agudo
16.50 T2.4 The genetic basis of Drosophila lifespan differences
Jorge Vieira
17.10 T2.5 Conservation genetics of the Eurasian shads
Stephen Sabatino
17.30 Poster session 2
18.30 Closing session
19.00 - 19.30 Bus transfer from Campus Agrário de Vairão to metro station, Estalagem
Brasão, and Villa C Hotel
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PLENARY LECTURE
PL1.1 Spatially explicit Approximate Bayesian Computation: lessons from owls and
humans
Jérôme Goudet1
1 Département d’Ecologie et Évolution, Faculté de Biologie et de Médecine, Université de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) is increasingly used to infer the past demography of a
species. One aspect that has been mostly overlooked is the spatial aspect of the demographic
history of many if not most species living in temperate regions, and many studies using ABC
only consider populations splitting and merging without accounting for the geography. I will
illustrate using two examples (the colonization of Europe by the barn owl and that of the world
by modern humans) how space can be accounted for in an ABC framework, the difficulties that
this generates and the insights that can be gained.
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ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
T1.1 Species delimitation based on population genetic parameters
Jody Hey1, Catarina Pinho
2
1 Department of Genetics, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, United States of America 2 CIBIO – Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal
Delimiting species boundaries is crucial in conservation biology, yet challenging due to the fuzzy
nature of species limits. This task must rely on evolutionary independence, a property that is
expected to be higher between species than between populations within species. We performed
a review of 97 studies using the isolation-with-migration (IM) model to investigate divergence
between pairs of closely related taxa (species and populations). We retrieved two measures
that are related to time since divergence and gene exchange, both important aspects to
consider when assessing evolutionary independence. Both measures showed broadly
overlapping distributions between pairs of species and pairs of populations, arguing for the
absence of a qualitative difference between intraspecific and interspecific divergence. The two
measures were further examined for their ability to distinguish species from population
differences; our results highlight that, when used together, they could in principle be used to
develop an objective criterion for species diagnosis.
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T1.2 Application of the unified species concept reveals distinct lineages for disjunct
endemics threatened with extinction in the Brassica repanda (Brassicaceae) complex
Margherita Lega1, Simone Fior
1, Filippo Prosser
2, Alessio Bertolli
2, Mingai Li
1, Claudio Varotto
1
1 Dipartimento Biodiversità e Ecologia Molecolare, Centro Ricerca e Innovazione, Fondazione Edmund Mach, Michele all'Adige, Italy 2 Museo Civico di Rovereto, Rovereto, Italy
Species delimitation is an important issue in setting conservation priorities, especially for
narrow endemics threatened with extinction. Brassica repanda is a highly polymorphic species
complex with main centers of diversity in Spain and the Pyrenees, and an eastern disjunction
formed by the endemic subspecies glabrescens and baldensis. Here, we utilize the general
lineage concept of species to test for distinctiveness of these endemics. Phylogenetic and
population genetic analyses based on AFLP data were conducted to examine compliance with
different species criteria. The results show that the eastern endemics have acquired the
properties of monophyly, diagnosability and genotypic clustering, and should, therefore, be
considered as genetically distinct evolutionary lineages from one another and the remainder of
the complex. Comparative population genetics analyses between the newly identified lineages
show the lack of marked genetic structuring within both taxon, and low levels of expected
heterozygosity. Conclusions on the threat status and on recommended conservation actions are
drawn.
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T1.3 Cryptic speciation in the field vole: a multilocus approach confirms highly divergent
lineages in Europe
Joana Paupério1, 2
, Jeremy Herman3, José Melo-Ferreira
1, Maarit Jaarola
4, Paulo Célio Alves
1, 2,
Jeremy Byron Searle5
1 CIBIO – Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto,
Vairão, Portugal 2 Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
3 Department of Natural Sciences, National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
4 Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
5 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States of
America
Recent studies of mitochondrial and sex-linked nuclear DNA clearly demonstrated the existence
of northern and southern lineages of the field vole, sufficiently divergent that they may
represent two cryptic species. In addition, within the southern lineage, two mtDNA clades were
identified in the Iberian Peninsula, presenting one of them a restricted distribution in Portugal.
Here we extend these findings by expanding the sampling, mainly in the Iberian Peninsula, and
through a multilocus approach (7 loci maternally, paternally and bi-parentally inherited
sequenced). Our results show that the mtDNA lineage identified in Portugal is indeed a distinct
third lineage. In fact, lineage delimitation analysis, clearly substantiate three separate
evolutionary units: Northern, Southern and Portuguese. Species tree inference places the
divergence of these lineages to the last glaciation, being the Portuguese the oldest. The high
levels of differentiation found make this a remarkable system for the study and understanding
of cryptic speciation processes.
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T1.4 The curious case of Bradypus variegatus (common sloth) microsatellites
Sofia Silva1, 2, Nadia de Moraes-Barros1, Nuno Ferrand2, João Morgante1
1 Departamento de Genética e Biologia Evolutiva, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil 2 CIBIO – Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal
Common-sloth is a Neotropical mammal, occurring in several menaced biomes. Noteworthy is
the Atlantic forest (AF) populations isolation, due to the species forest-dependency and the
poor connectivity of this biome with other forests. Within AF, previous mitochondrial DNA
analyses described three common-sloth management units (MUs), all with low genetic diversity.
To further characterize these units, several attempts were made to obtain highly polymorphic
molecular markers, by constructing traditional enriched microsatellite libraries, but only four loci
could be described. Conversely, recurring to the new high throughput sequencing techniques,
52 new microsatellites are now available. Interestingly, this new battery gives an ambiguous AF
population structure, since the low genetic diversity scenario is maintained across almost all AF.
Especially the São Paulo's MU seems to be severely genetically depauperated. These results
reinforce the hypothesis of a long-lasting loss of genetic diversity in the common-sloth AF
populations. The definition of hierarchical MUs is also proposed.
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PLENARY LECTURE
PL1.2 Very spatial indeed: some consequences of space (and time) on population genetics
inference
Lounès Chikhi1, 2
1 UMR 5174 – Unité Mixte de Recherche, EDB – Laboratoire Evolution et Diversité Biologique, Université Paul Sabatier, CNRS – Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, ENFA – L'Ecole Nationale de Formation Agronomique, Toulouse, France 2 Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Oeiras, Portugal
Population geneticists tell us that molecular data contain information on the recent evolutionary
history of populations and that they can reconstruct that history. How much can really be
inferred from genetic data is however not that easy to determine. We know that it is possible to
use genetic data to detect departures from mutation-drift equilibrium and interpret them in
terms of deviations from neutrality or stationarity. However, much of this work assumes simple
non-structured population models (e.g. Wright-Fisher model), and there is increasing evidence
that population structure and spatial phenomena can generate neutral patterns that are
significantly different from those expected in non-structured populations, leading to spurious
signatures of population size changes or selection. The interpretation of genetic data from
endangered species is thus particularly complex because of significant changes in population
size through habitat loss and in gene flow patterns (i.e. structure) because of habitat
fragmentation.
13
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
T1.5 The role of central and marginal populations in genetic connectivity of Iberian pines
Iva Kovačić 1,2, Santiago González-Martínez2, Juan José Robledo-Arnuncio2, José Manuel García
del Barrio2, Ricardo Alía2
1 Departamento de Ciencias Agroforestales, Universidad de Valladolid, Palencia, Spain 2 CIFOR - INIA – Centro de Investigación Forestal - Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria, Madrid, Spain Understanding how changes in habitat affect connectivity and the consequences on populations
led to increasing interest in connectivity measures. We examine the influence of connectivity,
fragmentation and the predicted habitat loss in pines correlating it with the genetic structure of
the populations. Native populations of six Iberian species were sampled over Spanish
distribution range and characterised for four common chloroplast microsatellite loci. Genetic
diversity and differentiation was calculated. We wrote a script in R to examine the factors
affecting gene flow between populations. The input variables (environmental, anthropogenic,
and historical) were assigned different resistances values and weights. Least-cost paths
between populations were calculated and correlated to genetic parameters to find the best-fit
scenario. For Pinus nigra, connectivity between populations was analysed to determine
populations of highest importance in maintaining the gene flow and the influence of marginal
populations. We finally examine several scenarios of population’s loss on overall connectivity.
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T1.6 Evolutionary conservation biology of the Mediterranean red coral
Jean-Baptiste Ledoux1, Didier Aurelle2, Cristina Linares1, Jean-Pierre Féral2, Joaquim Garrabou1
1 Institut de Ciències del Mar, CSIC – Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Barcelona, Spain 2 Centre d’Océanologie de Marseille, DIMAR – Diversité, évolution et écologie fonctionnelle marine, CNRS – Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR – Unité Mixte de Recherche 6540, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France
The Mediterranean red coral, Corallium rubrum, is a long-lived species with slow population
dynamics submitted to a strong harvesting pressure and recently impacted by mass mortality
events linked to climate change. Focusing on the shallow populations (0-50 m) and combining
population genetics (microsatellites) and experimental ecology (reciprocal transplant and
common garden experiments), we: 1) assess the level and repartition of the genetic diversity, 2)
complement our knowledge regarding the ecology of the species and 3) analyze the adaptive
processes to local environment. These populations are globally characterized by a high neutral
genetic diversity that follows a pattern of isolation by distance. Our results suggest a mainly
closed functioning of populations with breeding units highly restricted in space. We also
demonstrate that divergent selection acts upon population differentiation leading to local
adaptation. These results and data on its population dynamics call for the reinforcement of local
and international conservation policies.
15
T1.7 Environmentally-driven population structure of the bluefin tuna in the
Mediterranean Sea
Giulia Riccioni 1, Marco Stagioni 1, Giorgia Ferrara 2, Guido Barbujani 3, Fausto Tinti 1,2
1 GenSEA – Marine Biology & Fisheries Laboratory, Section of Marine Genetics & Zoology, Dipartimento di Biologia Evoluzionistica Sperimentale, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy 2 GenMAP – Molecular Genetics for Environmental & Fishery Resources Laboratory, Interdepartmental Centre for Research in Environmental Sciences, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy 3 Dipartimento di Biologia ed Evoluzione, Università di Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy Atlantic Bluefin Tuna show a complex demography in the Mediterranean Sea despite it is a little
basin in comparison to the long transatlantic migrations they perform. The weak population
genetic structure detected through common summary statistics is difficult to infer using more
sophisticated tools. An improved version of the Bayesian clustering program STRUCTURE, was
used to analyse ABFT samples from the Mediterranean sea. To corroborate clustering results
multivariate methods were applied to extract information from genetic markers without the use
of the strong assumptions made by classical Bayesian clustering methods. Genetic and
multivariate analyses detected the presence of a south to north genetic structuring through the
Mediterranean Sea. Moreover correlation analyses suggested that environmental factors could
have a role in shaping the identified genetic differentiation. This study confirms and defines
ABFT structure in the Mediterranean Sea and highlight the influence of the environmental
features on the genetic diversity of populations.
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T1.8 Estimating the historical divergence of Iberian wolf populations
Pedro Silva1, 2
, Raquel Godinho1
1 CIBIO – Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto,
Vairão, Portugal 2 Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
The unique morphological traits of Iberian wolves led to their classification as a distinct
subspecies (Canis lupus signatus Cabrera, 1907), but the validity of this claim has not been fully
investigated. Several studies suggest high levels of differentiation between Iberian wolves and
other European populations. Isolation of these populations may have started in the last
centuries due to the extermination of wolves in Central Europe or may be a much older legacy
from the Ice Ages. We attempted to evaluate the likelihood of these two hypotheses using
genetic data on nuclear loci and Bayesian-based coalescent demography models. Results
suggest an ancient date for the cessation of significant gene flow between Iberian and Central
European populations, strengthening the hypothesis of a long-term isolation of wolves in Iberia.
The resulting insights regarding isolation times and population sizes help clarifying the
evolutionary history of the largest population of this threatened carnivore in Western Europe.
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T1.9 Spatial and temporal patterns of population structure of humpback whales in west
coast of Africa
Inês Carvalho1, 2, 3, Jacqueline Loo2, 3, 4 , Tim Collins3, 5, Cristina Pomilla2, 3, Jaco Barendse6, Peter
B. Best 6, Matt Leslie2, 3, Howard C. Rosenbaum2, 3
1 Departamento de Ciências Biológicas e Bioengenharia, Faculdade de Ciências do Mar e Ambiente, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal 2 Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics, American Museum of Natural History, New York, United States of America 3 Ocean Giants Program, Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, United States of America 4 Department of Biology, New York University, New York, United States of America 5 Oman Whale and Dolphin Research Group 6 Mammal Research Institute, University of Pretoria, c/o South African Museum, Cape Town, South Africa
In the eastern South Atlantic Ocean (breeding stock B), humpback whales (Megaptera
novaeangliae) are distributed from Gulf of Guinea to western South Africa. Recent data suggest
that this stock is possibly sub-structure, with two sub-stocks. In this work an evaluation of
spatial and temporal population structure in humpback whales on the west coast of Africa using
maternally and bi-parentally inherited markers were conducted. It was amplified, sexed,
genotyped and sequenced a total of 2018 samples from this stock. The results revealed
significant genetic divisions at spatial (between regions) and temporal (between seasons) scale
between the two sub-stocks, even with high gene flow and current interchange between them.
This work indicate that there is some spatial and temporal population substructure in humpback
whales in this stock and support previous data that the whales sighted in Gabon region have at
least two feeding migratory destinations.
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PLENARY LECTURE
PL1.3 The interaction between genetic, environmental and epigenetic variation: effects
of inbreeding
Philippine Vergeer 1
1Molecular Ecology Department, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Habitat fragmentation results in smaller populations with decreased genetic variation and
increased risk of inbreeding. Inbreeding depression, the reduced performance as a result of
inbreeding, is known to be environmentally dependent with inbred individuals responding
differently to environmental change than outbred individuals. We hypothesize that epigenetic
mechanisms, which can be triggered by the environment and inherited across generations, are
involved in this process.
We compared epigenetic variation of outbred and inbred offspring of a perennial plant and
found inbreeding to affect DNA methylation. Even more interestingly, negative effects of
inbreeding were largely nullified after reconfiguring DNA methylation of inbred and outbred
offspring by treating the plants with a demethylation agent. These results for the first time give
experimental evidence for a link between epigenetic variation and inbreeding depression.
19
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
T1.10 Signature of a pre-human population collapse in the critically endangered Reunion
Island endemic forest bird Coracina newtoni
Jordi Salmona1-3, Marc Salamolard1, 2, Damien Fouillot1, Thomas Ghestemme1, Christophe
Thebaud4, Lounès Chikhi3, 4
1 SEOR – Société d’Etude Ornithologique de la Réunion, St André, Ile de La Réunion, France 2 Parc National de la Réunion, St Denis, Ile de La Réunion, France 3 Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Oeiras, Portugal 4 Laboratoire Evolution & Diversité Biologique, UMR – Unité Mixte de Recherche 5174, CNRS –
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France
This study focuses on the critically endangered species Reunion cuckoo-shrike Coracina newtoni, a rare endemic forest bird surviving in a restricted 12 km2 upland forest area. The total
known population consists of 22 pairs and 26 solitary males.
The objective was to characterize the genetic structure and the demographic history of the
population. Using seventeen polymorphic microsatellites, we found a limited level of genetic
variability and a weak population structure. Applying Bayesian methods, our results also
showed a strong decline in population size, most likely as a consequence of an old climatic or
volcanic event, balancing the accepted theory of recent population collapse due to human
pressure and predator introduction during the 350 years of human colonization. Indeed, we
found that the population underwent a major demographic collapse most likely occurring around
5000 years ago. Our results provide new and controversial insights on Reunion Island Cuckoo-
Shrike demographic history.
20
T1.11 Phylogeography and conservation of a long-range disperser: the example of Necora puber
Joana do Nascimento1, Pascale Garcia
1, Richard Coz
1, Thierry Guyot
1, Gilles Radenac
1, Benoit
Simon-Bouhet1
1 Institut du Littoral et de l’Environnement, LIENSs – Littoral, Environnement et Sociétés, UMR –
Unité Mixte de Recherche, CNRS – Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université de La Rochelle, La Rochelle, France
Over-exploitation of marine resources is known to be responsible for a decrease of populations’
stocks, furthermore leading to a genetic diversity tumble and a potential loss of species’
adaptation abilities. Regulating the effects of anthropic pressure on marine species has thus
become a significant issue for conservation biologists.
Our study focuses on Necora puber, a decapod crustacean highly targeted by both professional
fisheries and shellfish gathering. In order to assess the patterns of genetic structure and
diversity of Necora puber and to evaluate the effect of human pressure, we analysed a 635 bp
fragment of the COI mitochondrial gene for 1032 individuals from 29 European sites with
contrasted degrees of anthropogenic pressures. Our results depict an overall low polymorphism,
associated with the absence of genetic structure. We also highlighted a clear signature of recent
demographic expansion, likely followed by ongoing gene flows enhanced by N. puber’s
important larval stage.
21
T1.12 Tracking invasion histories in the sea using multilocus data and ABC methods
Marta Pascual1, Marc Rius
2, Víctor Ordóñez
1, Xavier Turon
3
1 IRBio – Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat, Departament de Genètica, Universitat de
Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain 2Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California Davis, Davis, United States of
America 3CEAB - CSIC – Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Blanes - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones
Científicas, Blanes, Spain The sea contains ecosystems that are amongst the most heavily affected by biological invasions
while marine invasion histories are often remarkably complex. Genetic studies can uncover the
pathways of the introduction of invasive species and the origin of the colonizers with the use of
new analytical tools that allow researchers to extract historical information contained in
molecular data. We studied the colonization history of Microcosmus squamiger (Ascidiacea)
using microsatellite loci, mitochondrial DNA sequence data and 11 worldwide populations.
Discriminant analysis of principal components, clustering methods and approximate Bayesian
computation (ABC) methods showed that the most likely source of the introduced populations
was a single admixture event that involved populations from two genetically differentiated
Australian ancestral populations. The ABC analyses revealed that colonization of the introduced
range of M. squamiger consisted of a series of non-independent introductions along the
coastlines of Africa, North America and Europe in line with historical taxonomic records.
22
T1.13 The impact of the social structure on patterns of genetic diversity: a simulation
approach
Bárbara Parreira1,2
, Lounès Chikhi1,3
1 Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Oeiras, Portugal
2 Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa,
Portugal 3 EDB – Laboratoire Evolution et Diversité Biologique, UPS – Université Paul Sabatier, CNRS –
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Toulouse, France
Genetic data are increasingly used to study natural populations and understand their ecology,
recent demographic history and behavior. In most population genetics studies it is customary to
assume that samples are obtained from populations that are at Hardy-Weinberg (HW)
equilibrium. However, populations are rarely isolated; rather they are part of a network of
populations. Moreover, many vertebrate species typically exhibit social grouping, with different
breeding strategies and complex gene flow patterns.
Real data from populations with a known social structure, show significant deviations from HW
expectations at the social group level, these deviations observed at the social group level,
correspond to heterozygote excesses and are often interpreted to result from "inbreeding
avoidance".
Here we simulate different types of social structure and we quantify how genetic diversity is
distributed within and between social groups. We show that real data patterns can be
reproduced by the presence of a social structure and asymmetrical gene flow.
23
PLENARY LECTURE
PL2 Targeted population genomics in non-model species
Jeffrey M. Good 1
1 Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana, United States of America
Recent technological advances are changing both the scale and scope of genetic questions that
can be addressed in natural populations. However, most species still lack basic genetic and
genomic tools, presenting a number of challenges for the application of immerging genomic
techniques. We have tailored methods of targeted enrichment to conduct large-scale genomic
studies in chipmunks (Tamias). Chipmunks are a diverse group of North American rodents that
demonstrate strong ecological niche partitioning. For some species, isolated populations show
cryptic mitochondrial introgression from co-distributed species. Other species endemic to alpine
environments have experienced extensive habitat loss concurrent with climate change. By
incorporating both contemporary and historic samples, we are now able to evaluate genome-
wide patterns of introgression and temporal changes in genetic diversity in declining
populations. Our studies illustrate of power of emerging genomic tools for addressing diverse
questions in conservation biology that were inconceivable just a few years ago.
24
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
T2.1 Towards ‘on-the-spot’ analysis: Population proteomics of European hake
Elena G. González1, 4
, Grigorios Krey 2, Monserrat Espiñeira
3, Amalia Diez
4, Antonio Puyet
4, José
M. Bautista4
1 Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC –Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain 2 National Agricultural Research Foundation, Fisheries Research Institute, Kavala, Greece 3 Área de Biología Molecular e Biotecnología, ANFACO-CECOPESCA – Asociación Nacional de Fabricantes de Conservas de Pescados Y Mariscos - Centro Técnico Nacional de Conservación de Productos de la Pesca, Vigo, Spain 4 Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain
Population proteomics is becoming a powerful tool enabling the study of the population
structures and functional adaptations to environment from human settlement to animal natural
populations. A proteome scan approach based on 2-dimensional fluorescence difference gel
electrophoresis (DIGE) technology has been applied to generated thousands of protein markers
that allow the identification of different hake (Merluccius merluccius) population. Based on
quantitative differential analysis of hake populations, several protein markers were selected
that reliably assigned individuals to the populations of origin. The results obtained exploring
novel tools for traceability hold the promise to further advance our ability to identify the
population of origin for individual fish. These new methods have the potential to complement,
and in some cases, even supplement more established approaches, as they rapidly respond to
the environment where the fish was living just prior to capture, and therefore provide
information on geographic origin, etc.
25
T2.2 Population structure as revealed by SNPs in the Iberian honey bee (Apis mellifera iberiensis)
Julio César Chávez-Galarza1, J. Spencer Johnston
2, João Carlos Azevedo
1, Irene Muñoz
3, María del
Pilar de la Rúa3, John Clifton Patton
4, Filipe José Costa
5, Alice Pinto1
1
CIMO – Centro de Investigação em Montanha, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Bragança, Portugal 2
Department of Entomology, Texas A & M University College Station, Texas, United States of America 3
Área de Biología Animal, Departamento de Zoología y Antropología Física, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain 4
Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University, West Lafayette, United States of America 5
CBMA – Centro de Biologia Molecular e Ambiental, Universidade do Minho, Braga, Portugal The Honey bee, Apis mellifera L., occurs naturally in Africa, Middle East and Europe. The
adaptation to a diversity of ecological conditions has led to evolution of over 24 subspecies.
The honey bee subspecies that occurs in the Iberian Peninsula is Apis mellifera iberiensis, which
is originated by natural hybridization between lineage A (African) and lineage M (western
European). The objective of this study was to unravel the population structure of A. m. iberiensis by carrying out a genome wide analysis using SNPs. Over 711 individuals sampled
across three transects (one along the Atlantic Coast, one along the Mediterranean coast, and
one central) in the Iberian peninsula were genotyped for 1536 SNPs using the golden gate
assay of Illumina. The genetic structure was analyzed by a Bayesian clustering method. It was
observed a north – south cline in the three transects and the largest difference was exhibited
between the Atlantic populations and the other two transects.
26
T2.3 Conservation genetics on Islands, a case study of the Canarian Egyptian vulture
Rosa Agudo1, Ciro Rico1, José Antonio Donázar1
1 Departamento de Biología de la Conservación EBD - CSIC – Estación Biológica de Doñana - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Sevilla, Spain Insular populations are especially vulnerable to loss of genetic diversity and inbreeding
depression that may compromise their long-term persistence. Here we present a particular case
of an insular, reduced and threatened population that is subjected to genetic erosion; the
Canarian Egyptian vulture. Our results show that this population presents impoverished levels
of genetic diversity, both at neutral and functional loci (genes of the Major Histocompatibility
Complex; MHC), in relation to its continental counterparts, and we find that drift has been the
dominant evolutionary force. Furthermore, we observe a positive and significant relationship
between genetic variability at neutral and MHC loci and individual fitness, measured as age of
recruitment and breeding success. Our findings demonstrate that the genetic depauperation in
small populations has a negative impact on individual fitness, thus increasing the populations’
extinction risk.
27
T2.4 The genetic basis of Drosophila lifespan differences
Micael Reis1, Ana R. Araújo1, Bruno Aguiar1, Helder Rocha1, Cristina P. Vieira1, Jorge Vieira1
1 IBMC – Instituto de Biologia Celular e Molecular, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
Amino acid polymorphism at the Drosophila melanogaster Methuselah (Mth) G protein-coupled
receptor (GPCR) has been previously associated with lifespan differences, but the causative
mutations have not been identified. Here we show that, in Drosophila, there are important
differences regarding the number of mth-like genes when comparing different species and that
there is abundant evidence for positive selection at the amino acid level. We further show that
mth-like genes that encode proteins that share less than 50% amino acid identities with the D. melanogaster Mth protein present naturally occurring amino acid polymorphism that is
associated with lifespan differences. For two mth-like genes, the causative amino acid
polymorphisms have been identified. Flies from some genotypic classes live up to 69% more
than flies from other genotypic classes.
28
T2.5 Conservation genetics of the Eurasian shads
Stephen Sabatino 1, 2, Rui Faria 1, Paulo Alexandrino 1,3
1 CIBIO - Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal 2 Department of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, New York, United States of America 3 Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
We will describe our work on the conservation genetics of Eurasian shads, which are herring-
like fish found in rivers, lakes, and marine waters from the Black Sea to the Baltic, and in the UK
and North Africa. Eurasian shads exhibit significant genetic, life history and morphological
diversity throughout their range, which appears to be spatially structured and may be the result
of local adaptation. Microsatellite, mtDNA and nDNA sequence loci suitable to categorize
individuals into species groups have been developed and screened in more than 50 populations.
Through the study of neutral and adaptive genetic diversity we are working to understand the
evolutionary and population dynamics of shads that have enabled them to persist and diversify
over the millennia. By understanding how shads have been successful in adapting to different
environmental conditions in the past we hope to develop conservation strategies that will help
them cope with current threats.
29
POSTER COMMUNICATIONS
P1 Pattern of burrow sharing, sociality and female-biased dispersal in the common
wombat: insight from a non-invasive genetic study
Cécile Vanpé1, 3
, Jennifer Seddon2, Anne Goldizen
1
1 School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
2 Faculty of Natural Resources, Agriculture and Veterinary Science, The University of
Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
3 Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Oeiras, Portugal
In mammals, in which 50% of the species are burrowers, the influence of the use and sharing of
burrows on sociality and dispersal is still not clear. This study aimed to use a non-invasive
genetic approach in a Tasmanian population of common wombats (Vombatus ursinus) to (i)
describe the population’s social network based on the patterns of burrow-sharing and (ii)
investigate the role of kinship in burrow-sharing and the occurrence of female-biased dispersal.
Our results showed that common wombats exhibit a unique form of cryptic sociality based on
burrow-sharing and that males play a central role within the social network. In addition, kinship
is an important determinant of burrow-sharing. Relatedness between females sharing burrows
was significantly lower than between females not sharing burrows, but it was not the case in
males, which suggests the occurrence of male philopatry and female dispersal in our Tasmanian
population.
30
P1 Taxonomic identity of snipe breeding in the Azores
Tiago Rodrigues1, 2
, Serguei V. Drovetski1, David Gonçalves
1, 2
1 CIBIO - Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal 2 Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
The Wilson’s (Gallinago delicata) and the common snipe (G. gallinago) winter together in the
Azores. However, only the latter are assumed to breed there. We tested the taxonomic identity
of Azorean breeding snipe using sequences of one mitochondrial (ND2) and three nuclear
(MUSKI3, BPA1 and CPZ) loci from 106 individuals collected in the Nearctic, Palearctic and in the
Azores, including 5 Azorean hatchlings. Among loci, the hatchlings and the Wilson’s snipe shared
the commonest ND2 haplotype only. For the nuclear loci they had high pairwise FST values
(P<0.001). With the exception of the CPZ (P=0.05±0.01), these values did not differ from 0
between the common and the local Azorean hatchlings.
Despite these results, the few sampled hatchlings, and their origin from a single island hardly
constitutes a solid rejection of the possibility that the Wilson's snipe can breed or hybridize with
the common snipe in the Azores.
31
P1 Raccoon invasive genetics: How many introduction events and founders in Spain?
Fernando Alda1, María José Ruiz-López
2, Francisco José García
3, Matthew E. Gompper
4, Lori S.
Eggert2, Jesús T. García
1,
1 IREC – Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos, CSIC - UCLM - JCCLM – Consejo
Superior de Investigaciones Científicas – Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha – Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha, Ciudad Real, Spain 2 Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia (MO), United States of America 3 BIOTA, Madrid, Spain 4 Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia (MO), United
States of America The common raccoon (Procyon lotor) is an American endemism that has established non-native
populations worldwide. In Spain, growing evidence of the introduction of raccoons has been
reported across the country in the last decade. We used mitochondrial and microsatellite DNA
data to investigate the genetics of invasive raccoons in Central Spain and to infer: the number
of introduction events, the number of founders and the genetic variability of the introduced
populations compared to a native population. At least two introduction events from different
source populations have occurred in Central Spain, and currently constitute two genetically
differentiated subpopulations. In both cases the number of effective founders from a native
population was estimated as 2-4 individuals. These newly founded populations have expanded
and show evidence of incipient contact, possibly increasing the difficulty of controlling this
invasive species. We provide a landmark to longitudinally monitor raccoon expansion and
emphasize the urgent need to control the pet trade of alien and potentially invasive species.
32
P1 The Speciation History of North American Hares (Lepus spp.): Divergence with Gene
Flow?
Fernando Seixas1, Paulo C. Alves
1, 2, Ellen Cheng
3, L. Scott Mills
3, José Melo-Ferreira
1, 2, 4
1 CIBIO – Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto,
Vairão, Portugal 2 Departamento Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal 3 Wildlife Biology Program, College of Forestry and Conservation, University of Montana,
Missoula, United States of America 4 Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution, Université Montpellier 2, CNRS – Centre National de la
Recherche Scientifique, UMR – Unité Mixte de Recherche5554, Montpellier, France
Cataloguing life and understanding the process of species formation has always been a major
endeavour of biologists. However, speciation is a continuous process which makes the definition
of species a challenging task, particularly for closely related taxa, the level that is the most
relevant to study and understand speciation. Hares (Lepus spp.) appear as promising models for
such studies because i) the genus diversified from North America as recently as 5-6 Mya
forming over 30 species spread all over the world, and ii) numerous instances of interspecific
gene flow have been reported. Interestingly, little is known about the evolutionary history of
hares from North America. Here, we study three North American species (L. americanus, L. californicus and L. townsendii) which have distinct but partially overlapping distribution ranges.
Preliminary results suggest that introgressive hybridization may occur among these species,
possibly causing major replacements of mitochondrial lineages and likely affecting other
inheritance compartments. This study will contribute to a better understanding of the multitude
of patterns that lead to the formation and maintenance of species.
33
P1 Recent or historical fragmentation in the Betic midwife toad (Alytes dickhilleni)?
Implications for conservation
Guilherme Dias1, 2
, Juan Francisco Beltrán3, Maríbel Benítez
4, Miguel Tejedo
5, Helena Gonçalves
2
1
Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal 2
CIBIO – Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal 3
Departamento de Fisiología y Zoología, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain 4
Departamento de Biología Animal, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain 5
Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, EBD - CSIC – Estación Biológica de Doñana - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Sevilla, Spain
Alytes dickhilleni is considered vulnerable due to a very fragmented distribution. The
assessment of the genetic diversity and micro-evolutionary processes that are currently
undergoing within A. dickhilleni populations is important to obtain information about the
conservation needs of this species. The mtDNA analysis of 45 individuals distributed across the
species entire range revealed little differentiation, high diversity and signs of demographic
expansion, pointing to a relatively recent fragmentation after a population expansion. In
addition to mtDNA data, a set of 19 microsatellite loci was used. Five population groups were
detected with high overall genetic differentiation and diversity. Estimates of contemporary
migration rates between population groups are very small and no genetic signature of recent or
historical bottlenecks was detected. It is suggested that A. dickhilleni seems to be exposed to
population fragmentation for several hundred generations and genetic factors may have little
impact on the species long-term persistence.
34
P1 Assessment of the origin of the Iberian populations of Podarcis sicula using
mitochondrial markers
Iolanda Rocha1, Daniele Salvi
1, Miguel Carretero
1
1CIBIO – Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal Biological invasions are very problematic and currently are the major cause of biodiversity loss.
The multiple consequences can range from ecological level to economic/social aspects. The
Italian wall lizard, Podarcis sicula, is one of the reptile species most widely introduced, from the
United States to Turkey. In Iberian Peninsula and adjacent islands, there are five populations
known to be introduced – Almeria, La Rioja, Cantabria, Menorca and Lisbon. The estimated age
of these introductions is variable and known, whereas the geographic origin still unknown,
except for Menorca population whose origin probably is Sicily-Sardinia. Tracing the origin of
introduced populations is essential to understand the source and the pathway of the species
dispersal and hence to set conservation policies aimed at preventing new introductions. Here
we assess the origin of all five populations using the cytochrome b gene by putting sequences
generated together with those published for the species both in its autochthonous range and in
other introduced populations.
35
P1 Cryptic diversity and deep mtDNA differentiation in endemic burrowing skinks from
the Seychelles: implications for island conservation/management
Joana Valente1, 2
, Sara Rocha1, 3
, D. James Harris1, 2
1 CIBIO – Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal 2
Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Porto, Portugal 3 Laboratorio de Filogenómica, Departamento de Bioquímica, Genética e Inmunología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Vigo, Vigo, Spain There is a shortage of knowledge on the intraspecific diversity of two genera of endemic
burrowing skinks from the Seychelles, Pamelaescincus and Janetaescincus. To describe their
patterns of genetic variation and structure is an essential step in accessing conservation
priorities across the archipelago.
Tail tips were collected in the field from several populations of Janetascincus and
Pamelaescincus, broadly covering their entire distribution. DNA was extracted from these and
multilocus (nuclear and mitochondrial) molecular phylogenies are being produced. Preliminary
results reveal deep cryptic diversity and differentiation at mtDNA level, correlated with
geography in both groups of species, although showing a more complex structure in Janetaescincus. This may correspond to multiple species across the granitic islands of the
archipelago and within the same island (e.g. Janetaescincus in Silhouette Island). The unveiling
of cryptic diversity within these species shows that there is a need for the clarification of their
status, which is very important for the effective conservation of Seychelles biota.
36
P1 On the hypothesis of native Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) in Portugal – a preliminary
study
João Cipriano1, A Carvalho1, C Fernandes1, MJ Gaspar2, 3, J Pires3, J Bento3, LR Almeida3, JL
Louzada3, 4, J Lima-Brito1
1 Instituto de Biotecnologia e Bioengenharia, CGB – Centro de Genómica e Biotecnologia,
Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal 2
CEF – Centro de Estudos Florestais, ISA – Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal 3
Departamento de Ciências Florestais e Arquitectura Paisagista, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal 4 CITAB – Centro de Investigação e de Tecnologias Agro-ambientais e Biológicas, Universidade
de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) has an extensive distribution through Eurasia. Portugal could
represent its westernmost native distribution with a population confined to some riparian areas
in ‘Serra do Gerês’ that includes centuries-old trees. With this work, we aim to study the genetic
diversity and relationships among 100 Scots pine individuals, being 70 from the two riparian
populations of ‘Serra do Gerês’ and 30 from native populations of foreign countries using the
inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. The pool of the ISSR data was utilized for the
construction of an UPGMA dendrogram using the simple matching genetic similarity coefficient
and SAHN method. Our preliminary results revealed that at least one population from ‘Serra do
Gerês’ could be native in Portugal, widening the southwest limit of Scots pine distribution.
Additional efforts will be made using other different molecular marker systems to confirm the
hypothesis of Scots pine being autochthonous in Portugal.
37
P1 Population structure and gene flow in desert environments: an application of
molecular tools to isolated populations of crocodiles in the mountains of Mauritania
José Cavadas1, Raquel Godinho1, José Carlos Brito1
1 CIBIO – Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal The Sahara desert has a complex environmental history punctuated by sudden and dramatic
“regime shifts” in climate and ecological conditions, which induced large variations in the
distribution and diversity of species. Currently, relict populations of Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) persist in the Sahara, restricted to Mauritanian mountains. The present study analysed
the genetic diversity, population structure and gene flow among Mauritanian crocodiles using
two mitochondrial and 32 microsatellite markers. Results showed that Mauritanian crocodiles
exhibit very low values for all genetic diversity indexes and showed a spatially structured
pattern of genetic diversity representing a metapopulation of four main population groups,
namely Afollé, Gabbou, Assaba and Gorgol. Gene flow was detected between particular
populations and no correlation between genetic and geographic distances was found. Spatial
analyses further allowed understanding the spatial structure of genetic diversity. This study
represents a baseline for the recognition of management units for the conservation of
biodiversity in the fragile humid habitats of the Sahara-Sahel regions.
38
P1 Phylogeography of Savi’s Warblers (Locustella luscinioides)
Júlio M. Neto1, 2
1 CIBIO – Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal 2 Department of Biology, Ecology Building, Lund, Sweden
Mitochondrial DNA sequences and microsatellites were used to assess the influence of
Pleistocene glaciations on the genetic structure and demography of Savi’s Warblers, a long-
distance migratory passerine specialized in reed beds. Phylogenetic and coalescent analyses
indicated that Savi’s Warblers split from its sister species c.8 million years ago and have two
major haplotype groups that diverged in the early/middle Pleistocene. One of these clades
originated in the Balkans and is currently widespread, showing strong evidence for population
expansion; whereas the other is restricted to Iberia and remained stable. Microsatellites agreed
with a major genetic break in the Pyrenees, and both genetic markers showed an isolation-by-
distance pattern associated with the population expansion of the eastern clade. Savi’s Warbler
is the only migratory bird species for which the Pyrenees constituted a barrier for the expansion
of Iberian birds. Despite the long period of independent evolution of western and eastern
populations, complete introgression occurred when these groups met after the last glacial
period. Interestingly, mitochondrial sequences indicated the existence of refugia within refugia
in the Iberian Peninsula during the last glacial period, which is surprising given the large
dispersal capability of this species. Although frequent in other animals and plants, this has only
been described in one resident bird species. Plumage differences of eastern subspecies seemed
to have evolved recently through natural selection, in agreement with the glacial expansion
hypothesis. Finally, breeding populations seem to be segregated at the wintering sites, showing
strong migratory connectivity. This study supports the great importance of the Iberian Peninsula
and its role for the conservation of genetic variation.
39
P1 Ancient hybridization between hare species: no evidence for the large X-effect on
speciation
Liliana Farelo1, 2, Paulo C. Alves1, 2, Pierre Boursot3, Nuno Ferrand1, 2, José Melo-Ferreira1, 3
1CIBIO – Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto,
Vairão, Portugal 2 Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
3 Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution, Université Montpellier 2, CNRS – Centre National de la
Recherche Scientifique, UMR – Unité Mixte de Recherche 5554, Montpellier, France
The study of hybrid zones has often disclosed reduced levels of interspecific gene flow and
higher differentiation on the X chromosome, suggesting an important role of the X on the
establishment of post-zygotic reproductive isolation. In the Iberian Peninsula, variable levels of
genetic admixture have been described across inheritance compartments between the extant
Lepus granatensis and L. timidus, a species that went extinct from the region by the end of the
last glacial period. Here, we surveyed sequence variation at 8 X-linked loci located along the X-
chromosome in these species. We found generally high differentiation between the species but
not significantly higher than that found for the autosomes estimated using published sequence
data. This may result from introgression at one or eventually two genes. These results suggest
that forces besides those preventing gene flow are in action in the X-chromosome of these hare
species.
40
P1 Genetic diversity, structure and conservation of the endangered Cantabrian
Capercaillie in a unique Mediterranean habitat
Manuel A. González1§
, Fernando Alda2§
, Pedro P. Olea3, Vicente Ena
1, Raquel Godinho
4, Sergei
Drovetski4
§These authors contributed equally to this work
1 Departamento de Biodiversidad y Gestión Ambiental, Universidad de León, León, Spain 2 IRE – Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos, CSIC – UCLM - JCCM – Consejo
Superior de Investigaciones Científicas - Universidad Castilla-La Mancha - Junta de Comunidades
de Castilla-La Mancha, Ciudad Real, Spain 3 School of Biology, IE University, Segovia, Spain 4 CIBIO – Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto,
Vairão, Portugal
Populations residing at the rear-edge of the species’ range are often at a high risk of extinction,
due to their isolation, fragmentation, low population size and suboptimal habitat conditions. The
endangered Cantabrian Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus cantabricus) inhabits deciduous forests of
the Cantabrian Mountains of Spain, at the southwest limit of the species’ range. Recently, nine
unknown Cantabrian Capercaillie leks were described in dryer forests of the Mediterranean
biogeographic region. In order to genetically characterize the population genetic diversity and
structure of the endangered Cantabrian Capercaillie across its whole diversity of habitats, we
performed genetic analyses using microsatellites of all known leks in the newly described
marginal Mediterranean forests and the adjacent Eurosiberian core range. No significant genetic
differentiation between Eurosiberian and Mediterranean forests was detected. This
Mediterranean forest is expanding to the south so it may represent a chance for the Cantabrian
Capercaillie to recover part of its historical range.
41
P1 First evolutionary insights on the Iberian Sooty Copper butterfly
Renata Martins1, Sofia G. Seabra1, Octávio S. Paulo1, Eduardo Marabuto1
1 CBA – Centro de Biologia Ambiental, Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
The Iberian endemic butterfly species Lycaena bleusei, whose evolutionary history and
taxonomic classification have always been controversial, was considered as a subspecies of the
widespread Sooty Copper, L. tityrus, but because of its distinct distribution and morphology was,
only recently, brought up to species level.
In this study we assessed for the first time the phylogenetic relationships between these
species, their phylogeographic patterns and population genetic structure, as well as
demographic changes and divergence times for each species within Iberia.
Our results emphasize the existence of two distinct species, with independent evolutionary
histories. A secondary contact zone is described and mixed populations were found. Incongruent
molecular histories of two individuals suggest the presence of hybridization events between
the two Copper species. The taxonomic and genetic definition of the Iberian Sooty Copper as an
independent unit provides evidence for the need of a new approach on this Iberian endemic
species regarding also its conservation status.
42
P1 First insights into the genetic diversity of the small five-toed jerboa, Allactaga elater
Saeed Mohammadi1,Taher Ghadirian2, Mohammad Ali Adibi3, Sandra Afonso4, Rita Campos4
1 Department of Environmental Sciences, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran 2 Mammals Research & Conservation Unit, Plan for the Land Society, Tehran, Iran 3 DoE – Department of Environment, Semnan, Iran 4 CIBIO – Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal
The small five-toed jerboas, Allactaga elater (Lichtenstein 1828), are nocturnal rodents with a
widespread distribution across the desert and semi-arid regions of Iran with the exception of
the northern slope of the Alborz Mountain forest (Southern coast of Caspian Sea). It is found at
altitudes between 490-2000m in deserts of Iran with sparse vegetation. Little is known about
the diet and the ecology of A. elater. Also, with the exception of a single study on the taxonomy
of rodent species, no information on the genetic variability of this species is available. In order
to contribute to the molecular characterization of the five-toed jerboa we sampled 14 individuals
from the Damghan, Semnan Province (center of Iran). Two mitochondrial (Cyt b and 12S) and
three nuclear genes (VWS, IRBP and LCAT) will be sequenced for a preliminary estimate of
genetic diversity and to elucidate about any potential population sub-structuring in this species.
43
P1 The puzzling natural recolonization of river Ebro by Twaite shads: tilting at windmills?
Graciela Sotelo1, 2
, Karl B. Andree3, Miguel A. Lopéz
4, Paulo Alexandrino
5, 6, Enric Gisbert
3, Rui
Faria1, 5
1 IBE – Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Departament de Ciències de la Salut i de la Vida, UPF-
CSIC – Universitat Pompeu Fabra - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, PRBB – Parc de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain 2
Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland 3 IRTA-SCR – Institut de Recerca i Tecnologies Agroalimentàries de Sant Carles de la Ràpita, Tarragona, Spain 4 Forestal Catalana S.A., Barcelona, Spain 5 CIBIO – Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal 6 Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal The river Ebro (Mediterranean basin) historically supported one of the most important Twaite
shad (Alosa fallax) populations in Spain. However, since the beginning of the 20th century, the
pressure posed by human activities (especially weirs) caused a dramatic decline that culminated
in the closure of the commercial fishery in 1970 and the presumed extinction of A. fallax from
this drainage. Nevertheless, unexpected captures during last years point to a recovery of this
population and raise questions concerning the source of the individuals recently captured, which
we address here using two mitochondrial genes and six microsatellite loci.
The genetic differentiation of the Twaite shads recently captured in Ebro confirms their
Mediterranean origin. Moreover, the noticeable diversity and uniqueness of the haplotypes
observed in this population suggest either a relic population that remained undetected during
several decades, or recolonization from small neighbouring drainages. The presence of typical A. alosa mtDNA haplotypes also suggests historical introgression with this closely related shad
species. Both mysteries as well as their conservation implications will be discussed.
44
P1 Cryptic patterns of diversification of an endemic South American Woodcreeper species
complex (Aves: Dendrocolaptidae): gene and species trees analyzes
Tiago Sousa-Neves1, 2, Fernando Sequeira1, Alexandre Aleixo2
1 CIBIO – Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal 2 Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal 3 Coordenação de Zoologia, Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Belém, Brazil
The Xiphorhynchus pardalotus/ocellatus species complex, distributed throughout most of
lowland Amazonia and the foothills of the eastern Andes, includes between two to three
currently recognized polytypic species whose limits are still uncertain. To understand its
historical diversification and address the main unsettled issues of phylogenetic relationships
and taxonomy, we sequenced fragments of two mitochondrial genes (Cyt b and ND2) and three
nuclear genes (β-Fibint7, CRYAAint1, andCPZint3) for all described species and subspecies of the
complex, except X. ocellatus lineatocapilla, whose validity is doubtful. Single locus (mtDNA) and
multilocus (mtDNA and nDNA) concatenated and Bayesian species-tree analyzes produced
essentially congruent phylogenetic estimates, which supported the recognition of four main
divergent evolutionary units, corresponding to previously recognized X. ocellatus, X. chunchotambo, and X. o. beauperthuysii. In contrast, all nuclear genes produced essentially
unresolved gene trees Phylogenies were consistent with a historical scenario of intense
population subdivision and speciation during the Late Tertiary and/or Early-mid Pleistocene.
Pattern and time of diversification overlap broadly with that reported for other Amazonian avian
taxa. Molecular data combined with qualitative vocal characters here analyzed are used to
discuss the need of a taxonomic revision of this complex.
45
P2 European brown hare syndrome (EBHS): insights into the genetic diversity of the
candidate α1,2-fucosyltransferase genes Fut2 and Sec1 in hare species (genus Lepus)
Ana Lopes1, 2, Joana Abrantes2, 3, José Melo-Ferreira2, 4, Pedro J. Esteves2, 5
1 Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal 2 CIBIO – Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal 3 INSERM – Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, U892, Institut de Biologie, Université de Nantes, Nantes, France 4 Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution, Université Montpellier 2, CNRS – Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR – Unité Mixte de Recherche 5554, Montpellier, France 5 CITS – Centro de Investigação em Tecnologias da Saúde, IPSN – Instituto Politécnico de Saúde do Norte, CESPU – Cooperativa de Ensino Superior, Politécnico e Universitário, Gandra, Portugal
European brown hare syndrome (EBHS) is a highly contagious disease, fatal in Lepus europaeus
and L. timidus. The disease, reported in several European countries and in South America, is
caused by the calicivirus European brown hare syndrome virus and might be dependent on
histo-blood group antigens (HBGAs). Synthesis of the HBGA H type 2 is catalyzed by α1,2-
fucosyltransferases, encoded by Fut1, Fut2 and Sec1. We studied the candidate genes Fut2 and
Sec1 in five hare species, three EBHS-free and two EBHS-susceptible species. Our results
showed a lower diversity for the EBHS-free L. granatensis. This might indicate positive selection
towards the fixation of advantageous alleles. We also found evidence of gene conversion
between the two genes, as observed for the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus). In this
multigene family, gene conversion is possibly associated with functional differentiation of ɑ1,2-
fucosyltransferases. With these results, we hope to better understand the genetic basis of
EBHS.
46
P2 The fate of S-RNase gene duplications across 120 million years of evolution
Bruno Aguiar1, Jorge Vieira
1, Nuno Fonseca
2, Cristina P Vieira
1
1IBMC – Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
2CRACS-INESC Porto – Center for Research in Advanced Computing Systems - Instituto de
Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores do Porto, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
In the current model, S-RNase based gametophytic self-incompatibility (GSI) evolved once
before the split of the Asteridae and Rosidae, about 120 million years ago. In this system, when
the S-pollen specificity matches that of the S-pistil, the pollen is rejected by the pistil. Based on
amino acid motifs and phylogenetic analysis, genes of the S-RNase lineage were identified in
the Cucurbitaceae, Fabaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Malvaceae, Rubiaceae, Solanaceae, Plantaginaceae
and Rosaceae families, with some species of these families being endangered. Nevertheless, GSI
was studied at molecular level only in the latter four families, with different evolutionary
patterns being observed between species of the same family, like in Prunus and Malus.
Analyses of the Medicago truncatula, Malus domestica and Prunus persica genomes revealed 17,
13 and 2 S-RNase lineage genes, respectively. Preliminary phylogenetic analyses of this gene
family support the alternative hypothesis that different S-duplicates could have been recruited
for the GSI function.
47
P2 Comparative ecophysiological traits of two Podarcis wall lizards from NE Iberia
Diana Carneiro1, 2
, Enrique García-Muñoz1, 3, 4
, Antigoni Kaliontzopoulou1, Gustavo A. Llorente
2,
Miguel A. Carretero1
1 CIBIO – Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto,
Vairão, Portugal. 2 Departament Biologia Animal (Vertebrats), Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain 3 CESAM – Centro de Estudos de Ambiente e do Mar, Universidade de Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
4 Departamento de Biología Animal, Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Universidad de Jaén, Jaén, Spain
Being organisms under the influence of climate, investigating lizard’s ecophysiology is crucial to
develop mechanistic models to realistically predict their distributions. Preferred body
temperature (Tp) and water loss (Wl), two important ecophysiological traits in reptiles, were
determined in two sympatric Podarcis species: P. liolepis, widely distributed in NE Iberia but
restricted in SE France, and P. muralis, restricted to mountains in Iberia but widespread across
the rest of Europe. The Tp was measured in photothermal gradient at 10 time intervals and the
Wl rates in sealed chambers during 12 hours. Test for intra- and interspecific interaction in the
thermogradient were also conducted. Results suggest that environmental humidity and not
temperature, together with the presence of a congeneric saxicolous species, may be the limiting
factor to the future distribution of P. liolepis.
48
P2 Similar patterns of seasonal activity in a Mediterranean lizard along a 2200-m
altitudinal gradient: a question of local adaptation?
Francisco Javier Zamora-Camacho1, Senda Reguera1, Gregorio Moreno-Rueda1, Juan Manuel
Pleguezuelos1
1Departamento de Zoología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
Mountains’ temperature varies vertically, which permits to study ectotherms’ adaptive trends in
activity patterns along a thermo-climatic gradient.
This study was on the wide-distributed lizard Psammodromus algirus. We established six
sampling plots regularly in different altitudes (300-2500 m asl) on the southern slope of Sierra
Nevada (SE Spain), and performed transects every two weeks, along daytime, throughout
activity season. We registered active neonates or adults, and recorded air and body
temperature, obtaining that:
A) Adult density peak appeared at mid-season, but in the two highest zones it appeared at the
beginning of the season.
B) Neonates were consistently detected near the end of the season, suggesting a single,
synchronous breeding event along the cline.
C) Air temperature decreased 9ºC in altitude; lizards’ body temperature decreased only 2ºC. This
suggests different thermoregulatory mechanisms permitting similar body temperatures along
the gradient.
These results suggest altitude local adaptations in P. algirus seasonal activity patterns.
49
P2 Assessing natural variation in Drosophila longevity
Helder Rocha1, Micael Reis
1, Cristina P. Vieira
1, Jorge Vieira
1
1 IBMC – Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
More than 50 genes have been identified in Drosophila melanogaster that may contribute to the
setting of lifespan. Molecular genetic analyses (most of them based in artificially created
mutations in the target genes) are not informative about whether the observed genetic
variation at these loci contributes to phenotypic variance for lifespan or even if this variation
occurs in natural populations, what becomes of limited relevance for our understanding of the
evolution of aging in natural populations. The only way to understand the genetic architecture
of longevity is to know what loci affect variation in lifespan in nature. Therefore, five different
D. americana F2 association crosses have been set up, in order to look for evidence of
associations between naturally segregating polymorphisms and lifespan. In this project we use
D. americana rather than D. melanogaster in order to also test the generality of the findings
reported for the latter species.
50
P2 Positive Selection in the ATP8 gene in the evolution of the Mountain Hare (Lepus timidus) revealed by mitogenomic analyses
Joana Vilela1, 2, Paulo Célio Alves1, 2, Pierre Boursot3, Miguel Fonseca1, 4, José Melo-Ferreira1
1 CIBIO – Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto,
Vairão, Portugal 2 Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
3 Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution, Université Montpellier 2, CNRS – Centre National de la
Recherche Scientifique, UMR – Unité Mixte de Recherche 5554, Montpellier, France 4 Laboratorio de Filogenómica, Departamento de Bioquímica, Genética e Inmunología, Facultad
de Biología, Universidad de Vigo, Vigo, Spain Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) introgression has been frequently detected among hare species
and almost all the cases involve the arctic/boreal species Lepus timidus (mountain hare) as the
mtDNA donor. L. timidus mtDNA introgression is geographically and taxonomically widespread,
potentially affecting over 10 other hare species. As L. timidus is well adapted to cold
environments and the mtDNA codes for proteins that are central in the regulation of heat and
ATP production, we tested here the hypothesis that L. timidus mtDNA evolved under positive
selection. We analyzed the patterns of codon evolution of the 13 mtDNA protein coding genes in
9 hare species, and detected signals of positive selection in one codon of the ATP8 gene in the
L. timidus lineage. This result suggests that L. timidus mtDNA evolved under positive selection,
eventually for adaptation to cold climates. It also strengthens the hypothesis that mtDNA
introgression involving L. timidus might be adaptive.
51
P2 On the efficacy of natural selection in the Iberian hare, Lepus granatensis, from
transcriptome-level sequencing data
José Melo-Ferreira1, 2
, Miguel Carneiro1
, Nicolas Galtier2
, Philippe Gayral2
, Pierre Boursot2
, Paulo
C. Alves1, 3
1 CIBIO – Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto,
Vairão, Portugal 2 Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution, Université Montpellier 2, CNRS – Centre National de la
Recherche Scientifique, UMR – Unité Mixte de Recherche 5554, Montpellier, France 3 Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
The nearly neutral theory of evolution predicts that the efficacy of natural selection is
positively correlated with the long term effective population size (Ne), because in small
populations there is an increased probability of fixation of deleterious variants or loss of
advantageous mutations due to drift. Here, we analyzed transcriptome sequence data from
hares and inferred that i) the proportion of adaptive substitutions driven to fixation by positive
selection (α) was ~21%, and ii) the proportion of effectively neutral new amino acid changes
was ~15%. When interpreted in light of the results in other mammalian taxa our estimates
indicate that the efficacy of both positive and negative selection is intermediate in Lepus (mice>hares>humans), fitting the expectations given the inferred Ne of each species [mice
(500,000) > hares (100,000) > humans (10,000)]. Our results contribute to the growing list of
examples suggesting Ne as a strong predictor of the efficacy of natural selection.
52
P2 Is there Apis mellifera ligustica and A. m. carnica introgression in Apis mellifera iberiensis?
Julio César Chávez-Galarza1, J. Spencer Johnston
2, João Carlos Azevedo
1, Irene Muñoz
3, María del
Pilar de la Rúa3, John Clifton Patton
4, Filipe José Costa
5, Alice Pinto1
1CIMO – Centro de Investigação em Montanha, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Bragança, Portugal 2Department of Entomology, Texas A & M University College Station, Texas, United Sates of America 3Área de Biología Animal, Departamento de Zoología y Antropología Física, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain 4Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana, United Sates of America 5CBMA – Centro de Biologia Molecular e Ambiental, Universidade do Minho, Braga, Portugal Several studies have grouped the A. mellifera subspecies into five lineages (A, M, C, O and Y).
Honey bees occurring in the Iberian Peninsula are considered a particular subspecies, named
Apis mellifera iberiensis, originated by natural hybridization among lineages A (African) and M
(western European). This study seeks to identify the level of introgression of lineage C honey
bees (A. m. ligustica and A.m. carnica) in Iberian honey bees potentially caused by introduction
of foreign queens by carrying out a genome wide analysis using SNPs. Over 748 individuals
belonging to 23 populations sampled across three Iberian transects were genotyped for 1536
SNPs. Honey bees of lineage C A. m. ligustica and A. m. carnica were used as reference
populations. The level of introgression was assessed by using Bayesian clustering methods. Our
results indicate that introgression of A. m. ligustica and A.m. carnica is not noticeable in all A. m. iberiensis populations.
53
P2 Mating systems: is a snapshot enough?
Mário Cunha1, 2
, Anders Berglund2, Nuno Monteiro
1
1 CIBIO – Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto,
Vairão, Portugal 2
Department of Ecology and Genetics, University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden The characterization of a species mating system is a way of deepening our knowledge on
sexual selection, still a hot topic in evolutionary biology. Almost invariably, the genetic
determination of a species mating systems is based on a single sampling episode that cannot
illustrate the dynamic nature of reproduction along the extent of the breeding season (BS). In
this work, we are trying to detect and quantify fluctuations in the breeding ecology of a pipefish
with an extreme form of parental care, male pregnancy. By contrasting results obtained from
two very distinct time samples (beginning and end of BS) we have been able to detect strong
imbalances in the number of eggs carried by pregnant males. Furthermore, we have begun to
determine the genetic mating system of this pipefish, Syngnathus abaster, using 5 polymorphic
microsatellites. Kinship analysis indicates the presence of multi-maternity, highlighting a
polygamous mating system. Interestingly, we have been able to identify for the first time a
putative pipefish mother from within our samples. Upon completion, this study will provide new
insights on the dynamic nature of pipefish reproduction.
54
P2 The genetic basis of cold tolerance within and between Drosophila species
Micael Reis1, Cristina P. Vieira1, Ramiro Morales-Hojas1, Bruno Aguiar1, Hélder Rocha1, Christian
Schlötterer2, Jorge Vieira1
1 IBMC – Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal 2 Institut für Populationsgenetik; Veterinärmedizinische Universität Wien, Vienna, Austria In Drosophila, cold tolerance is a major adaptation to climate that seems to have evolved several
times independently. Nevertheless, the molecular basis of cold tolerance has been mostly
addressed in D. melanogaster, where several candidate genes have been identified. Therefore,
we performed an F2 association study and qRT-PCR to see if variation in the most credible
candidate genes (Dca and Frost) could explain the variation observed in the distantly related
species D. americana. Remarkable differences were observed between these two divergent
species regarding cold tolerance. Only Frost seems to explain some of the variation for cold
tolerance in D. americana but through abdominal size and significant differences in Frost expression were observed after recovery from chill coma between D. melanogaster and D. americana. These findings suggest that Frost should be responsible for major differences in cold
tolerance between Drosophila species.
55
P2 How islands’ geological history influenced plants diversification patterns: the
example of Micromeria (Lamiaceae) in Tenerife
Pamela Puppo1, Manuel Curto1, Harald Meimberg1
1 CIBIO – Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal
Tenerife is the most geologically complex island of the Canary archipelago. During the late
Miocene-Pliocene, successive volcanic activity joined the islands of Anaga, Teno and Roque
del Conde. Today, fragments of these palaeo-islands remain as massifs each presenting
endemic taxa presumably remnants from an extinct flora.
It had been hypothesized that the secondary contact between the palaeo-islands could
have given rise to new species that now inhabit the central and younger part of the island.
Using the species from genus Micromeria present in Tenerife we investigate this
hypothesis by comparing the morphological and phylogenetic relationships between the
palaeo-island endemics and the central Tenerife species.
Using data from multiple nuclear genes we show that palaeo-endemic species are
morphologically and genetically distinct while the central species are similar. Our results
confirm the hypothesis that the central species derivate from an old species stock still
persisting on the palaeo-islands.
56
P2 Geographical and ecological diversification patterns of the Drosophila subgenus:
testing for adaptive radiations
Ramiro Morales-Hojas1, Jorge Vieira1
1 IBMC – Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
Colonisation of new geographic regions and/or of new ecological resources can result in rapid
species diversification into the new ecological niches available. In the present study we test this
hypothesis using the Drosophila subgenus, which comprises species that are widely distributed
and show a large diversity of ecological niches. We have estimated and dated the phylogeny of
218 species belonging to the major species groups. The obtained phylogenies indicate that the
major groups appeared during the Oligocene-Miocene transition, characterized by a trend of
climate warming with periods of glaciation. Ancestral reconstruction of geographic ranges and
ecological resource use suggest at least two dispersals to the Neotropics from the ancestral
Asiatic tropics, and several transitions to specialised ecological resource use (mycophagous and
cactophilic). Diversification analyses show no significant support for adaptive radiations as a
result of geographic dispersal or ecological resource shift, except for the lineage of the
tripunctata and related species groups. This radiation corresponds with the dispersal to the
Neotropics of their ancestor.
57
P2 The role of habitat choice in ecotype formation in the flat periwinkle Littorina fabalis: preliminary results
Christine Altenrath1, Diana Costa
2, Susana Varela
3, Rui Faria
4, 5
1 University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany 2 Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal 3 CBA – Centro de Biologia Ambiental, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal 4 CIBIO – Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal 5 IBE – Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Departament de Ciències de la Salut i de la Vida, UPF-CSIC – Universitat Pompeu Fabra - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, PRBB – Parc de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain The role of habitat choice in ecological speciation has been largely underappreciated. When
animals are faced with more than one type of habitat, they may make a decision not entirely
based on their innate preferences (genetic information), but also based on information acquired
passively (e.g. epigenetic information) or non-passively by directly assessing the environment
(non-social information). The information provided by the performance of their conspecifics on
each habitat type (social information) can also influence their choice, with implications to animal
dispersion across habitats that may lead to ecological speciation as well. Recent studies on
Littorina species (marine intertidal gastropods) have highlighted their potential for studying
ecological speciation. In particular, L. fabalis, for which three ecotypes were described for the
Iberian Peninsula associated with different algae/ seagrass genera, is among the most
interesting species for studying the mechanisms involved in ecotype formation. Within a
framework of a recent project aiming to understand the contribution to ecological speciation of
each of the above mentioned types of information in habitat choice, we conducted a series of
laboratory experiments of which we will present preliminary results and discuss their
evolutionary significance, highlighting some conservation implications.
58
P2 Estimation of biodiversity in ecosystems at São Jacinto Dunes Nature Reserve
Sarah Ferreira1, Cristina Amaro da Costa1, Angelina Barbosa2, Marco Magalhães3, Leónia Nunes1
1 ESAV – Escola Superior Agrária de Viseu, ISPV – Instituto Politécnico de Viseu, Viseu, Portugal 2 RNDSJ – Reserva Natural Dunas de São Jacinto, Aveiro, Portugal 3 Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal The native vegetation of the São Jacinto Dunes Natural Reserve consists of dune herbs and
small shrubs forming open communities. Changes in biodiversity of these ecosystems have been
occurred since the introductions of the Acacia longifolia, at the beginning of the 20th century. At
present, approximately 74% of the reserve is invaded by A. longifolia. In order to understand the
impact of the A. longifolia in native vegetation a comparison between the aerial photo in 2005
and 2010 was done and then a characterization of the floristic diversity. For this, 30 sampling
plots were installed to count and indentify the individual plants using two methods of surveying
vegetation, transect and square methods. The biodiversity indexes and principal component
analysis were done to characterize the ecosystem. Results showed a considerable increase of
the invasion of A. longifolia in the last 5 years and low biodiversity.
59
P2 Body-colour variation of the lizard Psammodromus algirus along an altitudinal gradient
in Sierra Nevada, Spain
Senda Reguera1, Francisco Javier Zamora-Camacho1, Gregorio Moreno-Rueda1, 2, Juan Manuel
Pleguezuelos1
1 Departamento de Zoología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain 2 Estación de Zonas Áridas, Almería, Spain
Systems under the influence of an altitudinal gradient offer a unique opportunity to study in
Evolutionary Ecology. That is, environmental factors gradually vary with altitude and,
accordingly, some generalist organisms may be locally adapted, generating a cline for several
traits. We analyze several traits of the biology of the lizard Psammodromus algirus along an
altitudinal range (from 300 m asl to 2500 m asl) in Sierra Nevada (SE Spain), such as colour
pattern, testing for possible altitudinal shifts. We used a spectrophotometer to measure the
lizard’s colour traits from the pileus and the throat region and found variation along an
altitudinal gradient. Lizards were darker with altitude. Colour patterns in organisms can
gradually change along an altitudinal range, under the pressure of natural selection. Darker
dorsal skin might favour faster body-temperature gain for adaptation to higher and colder
localities. Furthermore, it might protect against solar-radiation damage, which is most severe at
the highest elevations.
60
SPONSORS
61
PARTICIPATIONS
Surname Name Country E-mail
AFONSO Sandra Portugal [email protected]
AGUDO Rosa Spain [email protected]
AGUIAR Bruno Portugal [email protected]
ALDA Fernando Spain [email protected]
ALEXANDRINO Paulo Portugal [email protected]
ALVES Paulo Célio Portugal [email protected]
AMORIM Francisco Portugal [email protected]
AREAL Helena Portugal [email protected]
AZEVEDO Ricardo Portugal [email protected]
BATALHA Helena Portugal [email protected]
BHUIYAN Mohammad *Portugal [email protected]
BORATYNSKI Zbyszek Finland [email protected]
BORGES-NOJOSA Diva *Portugal [email protected]
BRANCO Madalena Portugal [email protected]
BROOM Lara Portugal [email protected]
CACERES Aimy Portugal [email protected]
CAMPOS Rita Portugal [email protected]
CARDIA Pedro Portugal [email protected]
CARDOSO Pedro Luís Portugal [email protected]
CARNEIRO Diana Portugal [email protected]
CARNEIRO Miguel Portugal [email protected]
62
CARRETERO Miguel A. *Portugal [email protected]
CARVALHO Carlos Portugal [email protected]
CARVALHO Inês Portugal [email protected]
CASTILHO Ricardo Portugal [email protected]
CAVADAS José Portugal [email protected]
CHÁVEZ-GALARZA Julio César *Portugal [email protected]
CHEN Shanyuan *Portugal [email protected]
CHIKHI Lounès *Portugal [email protected]
CIPRIANO João Portugal [email protected]
COCHOFEL Jaqueline *Portugal [email protected]
COSTA Cristina Portugal [email protected]
COSTA Vânia Portugal [email protected]
CUNHA Mario Portugal [email protected]
CURTO Manuel Portugal [email protected]
DAMAS Maria Isabel Portugal [email protected]
DIAS Guilherme Portugal [email protected]
FARELO Liliana Portugal [email protected]
FARIA Rui Portugal [email protected]
FERRAND Nuno Portugal [email protected]
FERREIRA Ana Mafalda Portugal [email protected]
FERREIRA Sarah Portugal [email protected]
FERREIRA Clara Portugal [email protected]
FERREIRA Alexandre Portugal [email protected]
63
FERREIRA Sonia Portugal [email protected]
FREITAS Maria Carolina Portugal [email protected]
G. GONZÁLEZ Elena Spain [email protected]
GARCÍA Cristina *Portugal [email protected]
GODINHO Raquel Portugal [email protected]
GONÇALVES David Portugal [email protected]
GONÇALVES Helena Portugal [email protected]
GORDINHO Luís Portugal [email protected]
GOUDET Jérôme Switzerland [email protected]
JORGE Maria de Fátima Portugal [email protected]
KHALATBARI Leili *Portugal [email protected]
KOVAČIĆ Iva Spain [email protected]
LEDOUX Jean-Baptiste Spain [email protected]
LEGA Margherita Italy [email protected]
LEITE João Portugal [email protected]
LIMA Joana Portugal [email protected]
LIMA Vanessa Portugal [email protected]
LOBO Diana Carina Portugal [email protected]
LOPES Ana Portugal [email protected]
LOPES Ricardo Jorge Portugal [email protected]
M. GOOD Jeffrey United States of America [email protected]
M. NETO Júlio Portugal [email protected]
MACHADO Luís Portugal [email protected]
64
MAIA João Portugal [email protected]
MARTELLI Eva Italy [email protected]
MARTINS Renata Portugal [email protected]
MATOS Ana Portugal [email protected]
MAURA Michela Italy [email protected]
MEIMBERG Harry Portugal [email protected]
MELO-FERREIRA José Portugal [email protected]
MIRANDA Ana Júlia Portugal [email protected]
MONTEIRO Rita Mafalda Portugal [email protected]
MORALES-HOJAS Ramiro *Portugal [email protected]
MOUTINHO Ana Filipa Portugal [email protected]
MULLINS Jacinta Portugal [email protected]
MÚRIAS Tiago Portugal [email protected]
NASCIMENTO Joana France [email protected]
NETO Sandra Portugal [email protected]
NEVES Fabiana Portugal [email protected]
NEVES Tiago Portugal [email protected]
NOGUEIRA Joana Portugal [email protected]
OLIVEIRA Rui Portugal [email protected]
OLIVEIRA Sandra Portugal [email protected]
PAIS Isa Portugal [email protected]
PARREIRA Bárbara Portugal [email protected]
PASCUAL Marta Spain [email protected]
65
PASQUALINI Valeria Italy [email protected]
PAUPÉRIO Joana Portugal [email protected]
PEDROSO Diana Portugal [email protected]
PEREIRA Carolina Portugal [email protected]
PEREIRA Rute Portugal [email protected]
PEREIRA Paulo Jorge Portugal [email protected]
PEREIRA Hugo Portugal [email protected]
PINHO Catarina Portugal [email protected]
PINTO Maria Portugal [email protected]
PUCA Sara Italy [email protected]
PUPPO Pamela *Portugal [email protected]
QUEIROS Beatriz Portugal [email protected]
QUEIRÓS João Portugal [email protected]
RAMOS Luana Portugal [email protected]
RATO Catarina Portugal [email protected]
REGUERA Senda Spain [email protected]
REIS Micael Portugal [email protected]
REIS Sandra Portugal [email protected]
REIS Andreia Portugal [email protected]
REMUGE Liliana Portugal [email protected]
RIBEIRO Raquel Portugal [email protected]
RICCIONI Giulia Italy [email protected]
RICHARDSON Dale Portugal [email protected]
66
ROCHA Helder Portugal [email protected]
ROCHA Iolanda Portugal [email protected]
ROCHA Joana Portugal [email protected]
ROCHA Ricardo Portugal [email protected]
ROCHA Sara Portugal [email protected]
RODRIGUES Leandra Sofia Portugal [email protected]
SÁ PINTO Alexandra Portugal [email protected]
SABATINO Stephen *Portugal [email protected]
SALMONA Jordi Portugal [email protected]
SALVI Daniele *Portugal [email protected]
SANTOS Helena Portugal [email protected]
SANTOS Mário Portugal [email protected]
SANTOS Xavier *Portugal [email protected]
SEIXAS Fernando Portugal [email protected]
SEQUEIRA Fernando Portugal [email protected]
SERÉN Nina Portugal [email protected]
SILVA Pedro Portugal [email protected]
SILVA Rodolfo Miguel Portugal [email protected]
SILVA Sofia Portugal [email protected]
SILVA Pedro Portugal [email protected]
SOUSA Fabio Alberto Portugal [email protected]
TARROSO Pedro Portugal [email protected]
VALENTE Joana Portugal [email protected]
67
VANPÉ Cécile *Portugal [email protected]
VASCONCELOS Raquel Portugal [email protected]
VELO-ANTÓN Guillermo Portugal [email protected]
VERGEER Philippine The Netherlands [email protected]
VERÍSSIMO Joana Portugal [email protected]
VIEIRA Cristina Portugal [email protected]
VIEIRA Jorge Portugal [email protected]
VILA POUCA Catarina Portugal [email protected]
VILELA Joana Portugal [email protected]
YUSEFI Gholam Hosein *Portugal [email protected]
ZAMORA Francisco Javier Spain [email protected]
*country of residence
