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Q&A ViewAttendees 9

Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity

Student Competition 10-Minute Paper

Grad SysEB: Hymenoptera

The genomics of environmental adaptation in a broadly distributed montane bumble bee, Bombus vancouverensis

Monday, November 1, 2021
11:54 AM – 12:06 PM MT
Location: Colorado Convention Center, Meeting Room 205
In-Person Student Competition
A major goal of evolutionary genetics is to understand how an organism adapts to its environment, particularly in complex ecological landscapes where disparate environments may be spatially located in close proximity. As fast-paced adaptation to contrasting environmental conditions primarily relies on the availability of standing genetic variation, it is particularly advantageous to examine the existing genome-wide patterns of variations (i.e. SNPs and structural variants). We use the North American bumble bee Bombus vancouverensis nearcticus as a model system for studying adaptation in diverse abiotic conditions as the distribution of this montane species extends across broad elevational and latitudinal gradients. We acquired specimens (n=122) from paired high and low elevation sites on a latitudinal gradient of 36°N – 48°N to obtain high-coverage (~ 40x) whole-genome sequencing data which was subsequently aligned to the reference genome for variant calling. We also assessed genome-wide patterns of linkage, fixation (Fst), nucleotide diversity to infer the pattern of selection acting on standing genetic variation. Our results indicate complex patterns of local adaptation across environmental gradients with isothermality and elevation being strong drivers of niche-specific adaptation. Identified genes under selection are broadly related to thermal and desiccation tolerance with more specific functions including neuromuscular synapse formation and calcium ion homeostasis. Overall, our study unravels the intra-species diversity of genomic routes involved in adaptation to disparate bioclimatic landscapes and provides foundational data towards building a set of ecologically important genomic markers to be tracked for future conservation purposes.