Full circumpolar migration ensures evolutionary unity in the Emperor penguin

Robin Cristofari (), Giorgio Bertorelle, André Ancel, Andrea Benazzo, Yvon Le Maho, Paul J. Ponganis, Nils Chr Stenseth, Phil N. Trathan, Jason D. Whittington, Enrico Zanetti, Daniel P. Zitterbart, Céline Le Bohec () and Emiliano Trucchi ()
Additional contact information
Robin Cristofari: Université de Strasbourg (UdS), Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien
Giorgio Bertorelle: University of Ferrara
André Ancel: Université de Strasbourg (UdS), Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien
Andrea Benazzo: University of Ferrara
Yvon Le Maho: Université de Strasbourg (UdS), Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien
Paul J. Ponganis: Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego
Nils Chr Stenseth: Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), University of Oslo, Postboks, Blindern
Phil N. Trathan: British Antarctic Survey, Natutal Environment Research Council, High Cross
Jason D. Whittington: Centre Scientifique de Monaco (CSM)
Enrico Zanetti: University of Ferrara
Daniel P. Zitterbart: Ocean Acoustics Laboratory, Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research
Céline Le Bohec: Université de Strasbourg (UdS), Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien
Emiliano Trucchi: Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), University of Oslo, Postboks, Blindern

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Defining reliable demographic models is essential to understand the threats of ongoing environmental change. Yet, in the most remote and threatened areas, models are often based on the survey of a single population, assuming stationarity and independence in population responses. This is the case for the Emperor penguin Aptenodytes forsteri, a flagship Antarctic species that may be at high risk continent-wide before 2100. Here, using genome-wide data from the whole Antarctic continent, we reveal that this top-predator is organized as one single global population with a shared demography since the late Quaternary. We refute the view of the local population as a relevant demographic unit, and highlight that (i) robust extinction risk estimations are only possible by including dispersal rates and (ii) colony-scaled population size is rather indicative of local stochastic events, whereas the species’ response to global environmental change is likely to follow a shared evolutionary trajectory.

Date: 2016
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms11842 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms11842

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11842

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().