Genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism scan suggests adaptation to urbanization in an important pollinator, the red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius L.)

• Published in: Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences Vol. 285; no. 1877; p. 20172806
• Main Authors: Theodorou, Panagiotis, Radzevičiūtė, Rita, Kahnt, Belinda, Soro, Antonella, Grosse, Ivo, Paxton, Robert J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England The Royal Society 25.04.2018; The Royal Society Publishing
• Edition: Royal Society (Great Britain)
• Subjects: Adaptation; Adaptation, Biological; Air pollution; Animals; Bees - genetics; Biodiversity; Bombus lapidarius; Cities; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; DNA sequencing; Environment; Environmental changes; Gene flow; Genome-Wide Association Study; Genomes; Genotype–environment Association; Germany; Indigenous species; Insects; Introduced species; Invasive species; Land use; Landscape Genomics; Local Adaptation; Native species; Natural vegetation; Panmixia; Pollination; Polymorphism; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; Rad-Seq; Restriction Mapping; Rural land use; Sediment pollution; Single-nucleotide polymorphism; Soil pollution; Special Feature; The evolution of City Life; Urban areas; Urban Evolutionary Biology; Urban heat islands; Urbanization; Germany; Cities; landscape genomics; local adaptation; panmixia; RAD-seq; genotype–environment association; urban evolutionary biology
• ISSN: 0962-8452; 1471-2954
• DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.2806

Urbanization is considered a global threat to biodiversity; the growth of cities results in an increase in impervious surfaces, soil and air pollution, fragmentation of natural vegetation and invasion of non-native species, along with numerous environmental changes, including the heat island phenomenon. The combination of these effects constitutes a challenge for both the survival and persistence of many native species, while also imposing altered selective regimes. Here, using 110 314 single nucleotide polymorphisms generated by restriction-site-associated DNA sequencing, we investigated the genome-wide effects of urbanization on putative neutral and adaptive genomic diversity in a major insect pollinator, Bombus lapidarius, collected from nine German cities and nine paired rural sites. Overall, genetic differentiation among sites was low and there was no obvious genome-wide genetic structuring, suggesting the absence of strong effects of urbanization on gene flow. We nevertheless identified several loci under directional selection, a subset of which was associated with urban land use, including the percentage of impervious surface surrounding each sampling site. Overall, our results provide evidence of local adaptation to urbanization in the face of gene flow in a highly mobile insect pollinator.