Data from: Genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism scan suggests adaptation to urbanization in an important pollinator, the red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius L.)

Urbanization is considered a global threat to biodiversity; the growth of cities results in an increase in impervious surfaces, soil and air pollution, fragmentation of natural vegetation, invasion of non-native species along with numerous environmental changes, including the heat island phenomenon. The combination of these effects constitutes a challenge for both the survival and persistence of many native species, whilst also imposing altered selective regimes. Here, using 110,314 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) generated by restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq), we investigated the genome-wide effects of urbanization on putative neutral and adaptive genomic diversity in a major insect pollinator, Bombus lapidarius, collected from nine German cities and nine paired rural sites. Overall, genetic differentiation among sites was low and there was no obvious genome-wide genetic structuring, suggesting absence of strong effects of urbanization on gene flow. We nevertheless identified several loci under directional selection, a subset of which was associated with urban land use, including the percentage of impervious surface, surrounding each sampling site. Overall, our results provide evidence of local adaptation to urbanization in the face of gene flow in a highly mobile insect pollinator.

城市化被视为对生物多样性的全球性威胁；城市扩张会导致不透水面增加、土壤与空气污染加剧、自然植被片段化、外来物种入侵，以及包括热岛效应在内的诸多环境变化。这些效应的综合作用对诸多本土物种的生存与存续构成挑战，同时也改变了选择压力格局。本研究利用限制性酶切位点相关DNA测序（restriction-site associated DNA sequencing, RAD-seq）获得的110314个单核苷酸多态性（single nucleotide polymorphisms, SNPs）位点，针对采自德国9座城市及其配对9处乡村样地的主要传粉昆虫红边熊蜂（Bombus lapidarius），分析城市化对其全基因组范围内潜在中性与适应性基因组多样性的影响。整体而言，样地间的遗传分化程度较低，且未出现显著的全基因组遗传结构，这表明城市化对基因流未产生强烈影响。但本研究仍鉴定出多个处于定向选择下的基因座，其中一部分与各采样点周边的城市土地利用类型相关，包括不透水面占比。综上，本研究结果为这种高流动性传粉昆虫在存在基因流的情况下对城市化产生局部适应提供了证据。