The paper presents the first whole- genome analysis of structure, gene flow, and taxonomy of a pelagic, North Atlantic seabird and has now been published in Nature Communications Biology.
Read about it here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-021-02415-4
Highlights:
- A reference genome of the Atlantic puffin was sequenced and assembled followed by analysis of whole-genome sequencing data of 72 individuals from 12 colonies throughout the puffin’s breeding range
- Puffins were grouped into four main population clusters contrary to the previous taxonomy, which proposes three subspecies
- A complex set of drivers, including the interplay between overwintering grounds, philopatry, natal dispersal, geographic distance, and potentially ocean regimes, impacts gene flow over different spatial scales (100–1000s of km) between genomic clusters and individual colonies within and therefore explains the genomic differentiation between puffin colonies
- A secondary contact zone between two clusters was identified
