10.6078/D1W12F
O'Connor, Timothy
University of California, Berkeley
Sandoval, Marissa
University of California, Berkeley
Wang, Jiarui
University of California, Berkeley
Hans, Jacob
University of California, Riverside
Takenaka, Risa
University of Washington
Child VI, Myron
University of Utah
Whiteman, Noah
University of California, Berkeley
Ecological basis and genetic architecture of crypsis polymorphism in the
desert clicker grasshopper (Ligurotettix coquilletti)
Dryad
dataset
2021
Evolution
National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National
Institutes of Health*
R35GM119816
2021-07-13T00:00:00Z
2021-07-13T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.29.441881
28023482 bytes
5
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Color polymorphic species can offer exceptional insight into the ecology
and genetics of adaptation. Although the genetic architecture of animal
coloration is diverse, many color polymorphisms are associated with large
structural variants and maintained by biotic interactions. Grasshoppers
are notably polymorphic in both color and karyotype, making them excellent
models for understanding the ecological drivers and genetic underpinnings
of color variation. Banded and uniform morphs of the desert clicker
grasshopper (Ligurotettix coquilletti) are found across the western
deserts of North America. To address the hypothesis that predation
maintains local color polymorphism and shapes regional crypsis variation,
we surveyed morph frequencies and tested for covariation with two
predation environments. Morphs coexisted at intermediate frequencies at
most sites, consistent with local balancing selection. Morph frequencies
covaried with the appearance of desert substrate – an environment used
only by females – suggesting that ground-foraging predators are major
agents of selection on crypsis. We next addressed the hypothesized link
between morph variation and genome structure. To do so, we designed an
approach for detecting inversions and indels using only RADseq data. The
banded morph was perfectly correlated with a large putative indel.
Remarkably, indel dominance differed among populations, a rare example of
dominance evolution in nature.
Data were collected from the field, using photograpy and image processing
and from DNA sequences.
Frequency data for banded vs. uniform morphs of the desert clicker are
reported as well as pattern energy spectra of their body color (and
habitat), as well as population genomic data.