Low genetic diversity and high gene flow in the Aquatic Warbler (Acrocephalus paludicola), a threatened marshland songbird with a fragmented breeding range

Breeding habitat loss and depletion of genetic diversity can have critically negative impacts on species, and especially so for habitat specialists. The Aquatic Warbler Acrocephalus paludicola is a threatened European songbird that breeds in fens, which have been lost and fragmented over centuries. We used microsatellite loci to perform a spatial and longitudinal comparison, comparing samples collected recently (contemporary) with those obtained about two decades earlier (historical) from c. 25% of the breeding range (Biebrza and Polesie) of the Aquatic Warbler. With these data we explored changes in genetic diversity, expansions and reductions of population size, population structure, and gene flow. Allelic richness, expected heterozygosity, the number of effective and private alleles, and effective population size (N-E & AP; 200) were low and comparable across time and space. We detected a genetic bottleneck in contemporary Biebrza, and a less certain bottleneck in both historical and contemporary Polesie. Across space, Biebrza and Polesie were not genetically differentiated in either period. All the historical samples clustered together, but in the contemporary samples a small part of Polesie clustered separately (F-ST = 0.011). Across time, Biebrza and Polesie showed low but significant differentiation (F-ST = 0.026-0.064), and historical and contemporary groups clustered apart. A principal coordinate analysis on genetic distance detected three groups, which spanned sampling locations. In the temporal comparison, the contemporary group and contemporary Biebrza had elevated mean within-group pairwise relatedness. We did not recover signals for sex-biased dispersal, asymmetric gene flow or isolation-by-distance using the molecular data. Our results suggest that the studied populations show: (1) impoverished genetic diversity, (2) a change in allele frequencies over the two decades studied and (3) high gene flow between distant breeding sites, implying high resilience to habitat fragmentation that should facilitate the success of recolonising restored habitat patches by Aquatic Warblers.

Automated summary

The loss of breeding habitat and depletion of genetic diversity can have significant negative effects on species, particularly habitat specialists. This study focused on the Aquatic Warbler, a threatened European songbird that breeds in fens which have been fragmented and lost over time. Using microsatellite loci, the researchers compared samples collected recently with those obtained about two decades earlier to explore changes in genetic diversity, population size, structure, and gene flow. The results indicate low genetic diversity, changes in allele frequencies, and high gene flow between distant breeding sites, suggesting resilience to habitat fragmentation and potential success in recolonizing restored habitat patches.