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Publikasjoner

Stabilizing selection on Atlantic cod supergenes through a millennium of extensive exploitation

Vitenskapelig artikkel
Publiseringsår
2022
Tidsskrift
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS)
Eksterne nettsted
Cristin
Arkiv
Doi
NIVA-involverte
Ann-Elin Synnes
Forfattere
Marte Sodeland, Sissel Jentoft, Per Erik Jorde, Morten Mattingsdal, Jon Albretsen, Alf Ring Kleiven, Ann-Elin Synnes, Sigurd Heiberg Espeland, Esben Moland Olsen, Carl André, Nils Christian Stenseth, Halvor Knutsen

Sammendrag

Life on Earth has been characterized by recurring cycles of ecological stasis and disruption, relating biological eras to geological and climatic transitions through the history of our planet. Due to the increasing degree of ecological abruption caused by human influences many advocate that we now have entered the geological era of the Anthropocene, or “the age of man.” Considering the ongoing mass extinction and ecosystem reshuffling observed worldwide, a better understanding of the drivers of ecological stasis will be a requisite for identifying routes of intervention and mitigation. Ecosystem stability may rely on one or a few keystone species, and the loss of such species could potentially have detrimental effects. The Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) has historically been highly abundant and is considered a keystone species in ecosystems of the northern Atlantic Ocean. Collapses of cod stocks have been observed on both sides of the Atlantic and reported to have detrimental effects that include vast ecosystem reshuffling. By whole-genome resequencing we demonstrate that stabilizing selection maintains three extensive “supergenes” in Atlantic cod, linking these genes to species persistence and ecological stasis. Genomic inference of historic effective population sizes shows continued declines for cod in the North Sea–Skagerrak–Kattegat system through the past millennia, consistent with an early onset of the marine Anthropocene through industrialization and commercialization of fisheries throughout the medieval period.