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Preservation of Genetic Diversity and Selection over a Century in a Coral Reef Fish (Taeniamia zosterophora) in the Philippines
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Preservation of Genetic Diversity and Selection over a Century in a Coral Reef Fish (Taeniamia zosterophora) in the Philippines

Kyra S. Fitz, Rene A. Abesamis, Jemelyn Grace P. Baldisimo, Abner A. Bucol, Rene D. Clark, Eric Garcia, Ivan R. Lopez, Sharon F. Magnuson, Marial J. Malabag, Richard N. Muallil, …
The American naturalist, v 207(1), pp 196-213
01 Jan 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/738468
PMID: 41418305

Abstract

Environmental Sciences & Ecology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Science & Technology Ecology Evolutionary Biology
Evaluating the evolutionary impacts of anthropogenic activity on populations is key to understanding species resiliency and to designing effective conservation strategies. Sequencing DNA from historical specimens provides the opportunity to establish a historical baseline and empirically assess changes in genetic diversity, changes in effective population size, and selection over time. Here, we sequenced historical and contemporary samples of the cardinalfish Taeniamia zosterophora collected in 1908 and in 2021-2022 across two sites with differing human impact in the Philippines. At both sites, genetic diversity increased over time, with contemporary samples having significantly higher Watterson's theta than historical samples. This diversity increase was primarily attributable to positive selection on low-frequency alleles such that they increased toward intermediate frequencies through time. For the putatively neutral fraction of the genome, in contrast, there was a slight but significant decline in Watterson's theta at both low and high human impact sites, suggesting that drift strengthened and effective population sizes declined through time. There was more evidence for selection and greater loss of neutral diversity at the site with higher human impact. Our results provide empirical evidence for the surprising preservation of genetic diversity through the action of natural selection in the face of anthropogenic impacts.

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