A crowd-sourced genomic project to assess hybrid content in a rare avian vagrant (Azure Tit <i>Cyanistes cyanus</i> (Pallas, 1770))

Martin Irestedt; Filip Thörn; Per G.P. Ericson; Hein van Grouw; Yaroslav A. Red'kin; Alexander Hellquist; Frank Johansson; Johan A.A. Nylander

doi:10.1016/j.avrs.2023.100130

Avian Research 2023, 14(4): 100130 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avrs.2023.100130

Research Article |

Open Access | Issue | Published: 26 August 2023

A crowd-sourced genomic project to assess hybrid content in a rare avian vagrant (Azure Tit Cyanistes cyanus (Pallas, 1770))

Show Author's Information Hide Author's Information Martin Irestedt^{^a}(

), Filip Thörn^{^a^,^b}, Per G.P. Ericson^{^a}, Hein van Grouw^{^c}, Yaroslav A. Red'kin^{^d^,^e}, Alexander Hellquist^{^f}, Frank Johansson^{^g}, Johan A.A. Nylander^{^a}

Department of Bioinformatics and Genetics, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden

Department of Zoology Stockholm University, Sweden

Bird Group, Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, Tring, United Kingdom

Zoological Museum, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

Institute of Biological Problems of Cryolithozone SB RAS, Yakutsk, Russia

Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, Sweden

Department of Ecology and Genetics, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

Keywords:

Crowdsourcing, Hybridization, Cyanistes cyanus, Museomics

Cite this article:

Irestedt M, Thörn F, Ericson PG, et al. A crowd-sourced genomic project to assess hybrid content in a rare avian vagrant (Azure Tit Cyanistes cyanus (Pallas, 1770)). Avian Research, 2023, 14(4): 100130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avrs.2023.100130

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Abstract Full text About this article

Abstract

The aim of this study was to correlate plumage variation with the amount of genomic hybrid content in hybrids between Azure Tits Cyanistes cyanus (Pallas, 1770) and European Blue Tit Cyanistes caeruleus (Linnaeus, 1758), by re-sequencing the genomes of museum specimens of non-hybrids and presumed hybrids with varying plumages. The project was funded by crowdsourcing and initiated when two presumed Azure Tits, observed by hundreds of Swedish birdwatchers, were rejected as hybrids based on minor plumage deviations assumed to indicate hybrid contents from the European Blue Tit. The results confirm that hybrids with intermediate plumages, so called Pleske's Tits, are first generation hybrids (F1 hybrids). Individuals, whose plumages are similar to Azure Tits, but assessed as hybrids based on minor plumage deviations, are all backcrosses but vary in their degree of hybrid content. However, some individuals morphologically recognized as pure Azure Tits expressed similar degrees of hybrid content. The results indicate that: (1) hybrid content may be widespread in Azure Tits in the western part of its habitat distribution; (2) plumage deviation in backcrosses is not linearly correlated with the genetic degree of hybrid origin; and (3) all Azure Tits observed in Europe outside its natural distribution may have some degree of hybrid origin. We therefore suggest that it is very difficult to phenotypically single out hybrids beyond first generation backcrosses. We argue that decreased sequencing costs and improved analytical tools open the doors for museomic crowd-sourced projects that may not address outstanding biological questions but have a major interest for lay citizens such as birdwatchers.

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A crowd-sourced genomic project to assess hybrid content in a rare avian vagrant (Azure Tit Cyanistes cyanus (Pallas, 1770))

Show Author's information Hide Author's Information Martin Irestedt^{^a}(

), Filip Thörn^{^a^,^b}, Per G.P. Ericson^{^a}, Hein van Grouw^{^c}, Yaroslav A. Red'kin^{^d^,^e}, Alexander Hellquist^{^f}, Frank Johansson^{^g}, Johan A.A. Nylander^{^a}

Department of Bioinformatics and Genetics, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden

Department of Zoology Stockholm University, Sweden

Bird Group, Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, Tring, United Kingdom

Zoological Museum, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

Institute of Biological Problems of Cryolithozone SB RAS, Yakutsk, Russia

Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, Sweden

Department of Ecology and Genetics, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

Abstract

Keywords: Crowdsourcing, Hybridization, Cyanistes cyanus, Museomics

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Received: 09 May 2023

Revised: 07 August 2023

Accepted: 22 August 2023

Published: 26 August 2023

Issue date: December 2023

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Acknowledgements

This study was only possible thanks to the generous financial support from keen birdwatchers and they are all acknowledged. A special thank goes to Sören Sahlin whose generous contribution was critical for the project. We are also grateful to Club300's former and current president Yvonne Blombäck and Martin Alexandersson and the editorial staff at magazine Roadrunner (Magnus Corell and Hans Bister) for helping us with advertising and practicalities with this crowd-sourcing project. We are grateful to the following Natural history Museums that generously have contributed samples to this study: the Natural History Museum, Tring (Hein van Grouw and Mark Adams); the Burke Museum, Seattle (Sharon Birks); Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm (Ulf Johansson) and Zoological Museum of Moscow University (Pavel Tomkovich). The authors acknowledge support from the National Genomics Infrastructure in Stockholm funded by Science for Life Laboratory, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and the Swedish Research Council, and SNIC/Uppsala Multidisciplinary Center for Advanced Computational Science for assistance with massively parallel sequencing and access to the UPPMAX computational infrastructure. MI acknowledge financial support from the Swedish research council (2019-03900) and Riksmusei vänner.

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This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).