SUPR
Intergeneric hybridisation and adaptive introgression in Birds of Paradise
Dnr:

NAISS 2024/22-1137

Type:

NAISS Small Compute

Principal Investigator:

Filip Thörn

Affiliation:

Naturhistoriska riksmuseet, Stockholms universitet

Start Date:

2024-10-01

End Date:

2025-10-01

Primary Classification:

10615: Evolutionary Biology

Webpage:

Allocation

Abstract

This is a proposal for a SNIC project to be used for a 4 year PhD position. The project will investigate the role of intergeneric hybridization in the speciation process of Birds-of-Paradise on the island of New Guinea. Genomes of roughly 100 individuals from the genus: Astrapia, Epimachus, Drepanornis, and Paradigalla will be sequences from samples obtained from museum collections. Genomes will be assembled and mapped against the Paradise Crow genome (Lycocorax pyrrhopterus). Population samples will be obtained from 5 Astrapia, 2 Epimachus, 2 Drepanornis and 2 Paradigalla species and form a population level dataset with a broad geographical distribution. The sampling locations of these populations will make it possible to investigate geographical patterns of hybridization. Furthermore, in some candidate populations we will perform more in-depth introgression analysis by investigate introgression in sliding windows to find introgressed candidate genes that show signs of adaptation. In addition, some morphological hybrids of Birds-of-Paradise will be sequenced from museum collections and more recent patterns of hybridization will be investigated in them.