PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Kristen Ruegg
AU  - Eric C. Anderson
AU  - Kristina L. Paxton
AU  - Vanessa Apkenas
AU  - Sirena Lao
AU  - Rodney B. Siegel
AU  - David F. DeSante
AU  - Frank Moore
AU  - Thomas B. Smith
TI  - Mapping migration in a songbird using high-resolution genetic markers
AID  - 10.1101/007757
DP  - 2014 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 007757
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2014/08/08/007757.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2014/08/08/007757.full
AB  - Neotropical migratory birds are declining across the Western Hemisphere, but conservation efforts have been hampered by the inability to assess where migrants are most limited – the breeding grounds, migratory stopover sites, or wintering areas. A major challenge has been the lack of an efficient, reliable, and broadly applicable method for connecting populations across the annual cycle. Here we show how high-resolution genetic markers can be used to identify populations of a migratory bird, the Wilson’s warbler (Cardellina pusilla), at fine enough spatial scales to facilitate assessing regional drivers of demographic trends. By screening 1626 samples using 96 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) selected from a large pool of candidates (∼450,000), we identify novel region-specific migratory routes and timetables of migration along the Pacific Flyway. Our results illustrate that high-resolution genetic markers are more reliable, accurate, and amenable to high throughput screening than previously described tracking techniques, making them broadly applicable to large-scale monitoring and conservation of migratory organisms.