Low coverage whole genomes of Calypte anna across California, USA

Recently, it was suggested that North America has lost nearly 30% of its avifauna since the 1970s. To mitigate such avian population declines, many birds in California are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and California Fish and Game Code. Avian presence, therefore, at Caltrans infrastructure projects, especially bridge construction, has caused costly delays.  To avoid this conflict and understand population-specific migration and nesting patterns, we used Anna’s hummingbird, Calypte anna, (a species whose ecology has led to conflicts with construction in California) as a case study to assess population-level genetic variation across California, USA. We sequenced whole genomes at low coverage from 40 individuals across 9 California counties and assessed population differentiation. This project initiates a general framework for assessing population-specific impacts of Caltrans projects on avian populations with the future goal of providing specific tools to avoid impacts ...