Abstract

Background: Understanding how past climatic oscillations have affected organismic evolution will help predict
the impact that current climate change has on living organisms. The European turtle dove, Streptopelia turtur, is
a warm-temperature adapted species and a long distance migrant that uses multiple flyways to move between
Europe and Africa. Despite being abundant, it is categorized as vulnerable because of a long-term demographic
decline. We studied the demographic history and population genetic structure of the European turtle dove using
genomic data and mitochondrial DNA sequences from individuals sampled across Europe, and performing
paleoclimatic niche modelling simulations.
Results: Overall our data suggest that this species is panmictic across Europe, and is not genetically structured
across flyways. We found the genetic signatures of demographic fluctuations, inferring an effective population
size (Ne) expansion that occurred between the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, followed by a decrease in
the Ne that started between the mid Holocene and the present. Our niche modelling analyses suggest that the
variations in the Ne are coincident with recent changes in the availability of suitable habitat.
Conclusions: We argue that the European turtle dove is prone to undergo demographic fluctuations, a trait that
makes it sensitive to anthropogenic impacts, especially when its numbers are decreasing. Also, considering the
lack of genetic structure, we suggest all populations across Europe are equally relevant for conservation.