Unexpected post-glacial colonisation route explains the white colour of barn owls (Tyto alba) from the British Isles.

ABSTRACT: The climate fluctuations of the Quaternary shaped the movement of species in and out of glacial refugia. In Europe, the majority of species followed one of the described traditional postglacial recolonization routes from the southern peninsulas towards the north. Like most organisms, barn owls are assumed to have colonized the British Isles by crossing over Doggerland, a land bridge that connected Britain to northern Europe. However, while they are dark rufous in northern Europe, barn owls in the British Isles are conspicuously white, a contrast that could suggest selective forces are at play on the islands. Yet, our analysis of known candidate genes involved in coloration found no signature of selection. Instead, using whole genome sequences and species distribution modelling, we found th

SUBMITTER: Machado AP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9298239 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature