Ecological disturbance reduces genomic diversity across an Alpine whitefish adaptive radiation

Genomic diversity is assossciated with the adaptive potential of a population and thereby impacts the extinction risk of a species during environmental change. We here used whole-genome resequencing data from all four species of the Lake Constance whitefish radiation covering a period of strong but transient anthropogenic environmental change and, to track the change in genomic diversity in all species over time. Genomic diversity became strongly reduced during the period of anthropogenic disturbance and has not recovered yet. The decrease in genomic diversity varies between 18-30%, depending on the species. Interspecific allele frequency differences within potentially ecologically relevant genes were homogenized over time. This suggests that in addition to the reduction of genome wide genetic variation, differentiation that evolved in the process of adaptation to alternative ecologies between species might have been lost during ecological disturbance. The erosion of substantial amounts of genomic variation within just a few generations in combination with the loss of potentially adaptive genomic differentiation, both of which had evolved over thousands of years, demonstrates the sensitivity of biodiversity in evolutionary young adaptive radiations towards environmental disturbance. Natural history collections, such as the one used for this study, are instrumental for the assessment of genomic consequences of anthropogenic environmental change. Historical samples enable us to document biodiversity loss against the shifting baseline syndrome and advance our understanding of the needs for efficient biodiversity conservation on a global scale.