POSTER: Genomic divergence and a lack of introgression between commercial and wild bumblebees, Bombus terrestris

Description

Human-mediated movement of non-native commercial bumblebees used for agricultural pollination services can affect local pollinator populations via hybridization. However, the extent of genomic introgression and evolutionary divergence between wild and commercial bumblebee species has yet to be fully explored. Thus, it is important to get a deeper understanding about the consequences of introgressive hybridization since the wild populations could be faced with the potential disruption of locally adapted genes through introgression of maladapted alleles originating from escaped commercial bumblebees. Thus, affecting the wild population’s ability to adapt and withstand future environmental change.

We compared whole genome sequencing data from wild (WB) and commercial (CB) Bombus terrestris from sites in southern Sweden with long-term exposure to imported B. terrestris and sites without such exposure. We examined evidence of introgression, dispersal and selection signatures between the two groups. We found no evidence of genomic introgression among WB and CB in southern Sweden, suggesting that the use of CB does not pose a genetic threat to local B. terrestris populations. We did however identify a highly divergent region on chromosome 11 in CB, which provided evidence for differential evolutionary processes operating on WB and CB.

Period	2022 May 16
Event title	Swedish Climate Symposium 2022
Event type	Conference
Location	Norrköping, SwedenShow on map