Data from: Genomic variation across the Yellow-rumped Warbler species complex

Populations that have experienced long periods of geographic isolation
will diverge over time. The application of high-throughput sequencing
technologies to study the genomes of related taxa now allows us to
quantify, at a fine scale, the consequences of this divergence across the
genome. Throughout a number of studies, a notable pattern has emerged. In
many cases, estimates of differentiation across the genome are strongly
heterogeneous; however, the evolutionary processes driving this striking
pattern are still unclear. Here we quantified genomic variation across
several groups within the Yellow-rumped Warbler species complex (Setophaga
spp.), a group of North and Central American wood warblers. We showed that
genomic variation is highly heterogeneous between some taxa and that these
regions of high differentiation are relatively small compared to those in
other study systems. We found that the clusters of highly differentiated
markers between taxa occur in gene-rich regions of the genome and exhibit
low within-population diversity. We suggest these patterns are consistent
with selection, shaping genomic divergence in similar genomic regions
across the different populations. Our study also confirms previous results
relying on fewer genetic markers that several of the phenotypically
distinct groups in the system are also genomically highly differentiated,
likely to the point of full species status.