Martin Irestedt, Filip Thörn, Per G.P. Ericson, Hein van Grouw, Yaroslav A. Red'kin, Alexander Hellquist, Frank Johansson, Johan A.A. Nylander. 2023: A crowd-sourced genomic project to assess hybrid content in a rare avian vagrant (Azure Tit Cyanistes cyanus (Pallas, 1770)). Avian Research, 14(1): 100130. DOI: 10.1016/j.avrs.2023.100130
Citation: Martin Irestedt, Filip Thörn, Per G.P. Ericson, Hein van Grouw, Yaroslav A. Red'kin, Alexander Hellquist, Frank Johansson, Johan A.A. Nylander. 2023: A crowd-sourced genomic project to assess hybrid content in a rare avian vagrant (Azure Tit Cyanistes cyanus (Pallas, 1770)). Avian Research, 14(1): 100130. DOI: 10.1016/j.avrs.2023.100130

A crowd-sourced genomic project to assess hybrid content in a rare avian vagrant (Azure Tit Cyanistes cyanus (Pallas, 1770))

Funds: 

interested birdwatchers 

the Swedish research council 2019-03900

Riksmusei vänner 

More Information
  • Corresponding author:

    E-mail address: Martin.Irestedt@nrm.se (M. Irestedt)

  • Received Date: 08 May 2023
  • Rev Recd Date: 06 Aug 2023
  • Accepted Date: 21 Aug 2023
  • Available Online: 10 Jan 2024
  • Publish Date: 25 Aug 2023
  • The aim of this study was to correlate plumage variation with the amount of genomic hybrid content in hybrids between Azure Tits Cyanistes cyanus (Pallas, 1770) and European Blue Tit Cyanistes caeruleus (Linnaeus, 1758), by re-sequencing the genomes of museum specimens of non-hybrids and presumed hybrids with varying plumages. The project was funded by crowdsourcing and initiated when two presumed Azure Tits, observed by hundreds of Swedish birdwatchers, were rejected as hybrids based on minor plumage deviations assumed to indicate hybrid contents from the European Blue Tit. The results confirm that hybrids with intermediate plumages, so called Pleske's Tits, are first generation hybrids (F1 hybrids). Individuals, whose plumages are similar to Azure Tits, but assessed as hybrids based on minor plumage deviations, are all backcrosses but vary in their degree of hybrid content. However, some individuals morphologically recognized as pure Azure Tits expressed similar degrees of hybrid content. The results indicate that: (1) hybrid content may be widespread in Azure Tits in the western part of its habitat distribution; (2) plumage deviation in backcrosses is not linearly correlated with the genetic degree of hybrid origin; and (3) all Azure Tits observed in Europe outside its natural distribution may have some degree of hybrid origin. We therefore suggest that it is very difficult to phenotypically single out hybrids beyond first generation backcrosses. We argue that decreased sequencing costs and improved analytical tools open the doors for museomic crowd-sourced projects that may not address outstanding biological questions but have a major interest for lay citizens such as birdwatchers.

  • In the original version of this article, we published a figure showing a gap in the confidence intervals for body and tail due to data paucity for mid stages of moult progress. Here, we amended this problem adding data from the 2023 moulting season, during which we obtained 139 moult records from 98 individuals. The final sample size used for plotting these results are shown in the caption below. This amendment corroborates the conclusion already stated: body moult does not seem to be under physiological constraints, although primary moult appears to be tightly controlled to reduce aerodynamic losses.

    Figure  8.  Moult speed in the House Sparrow, calculated as the average mass gain during the elapsed time between capture and recaptures. Local polynomial regression on moult progress calculated as the mean moult progress between consecutive captures (shaded ribbons depict 95% confidence intervals). Mass gain of primaries and rectrices have been calculated from one wing and tail side, respectively, and then multiplied by 2, i.e., assuming symmetry. Sample sizes for body and rectrices and primaries were n = 76 and 98 within-year recaptures from 56 to 40 individuals, respectively.

    The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.

    Santi Guallar: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Javier Quesada: Funding acquisition, Resources, Validation, Visualization, Writing – review & editing.

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