New Grant Awarded: Conservation Genomics of Threatened Butterflies in Czech Dry Grasslands
A three-year research project linked to the 10kLepGenomes COST Action has been funded through the INTER-COST subprogram [1] of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of Czechia. The project aims to understand how habitat loss and fragmentation have affected the genetic diversity and adaptive potential of butterflies in Czech dry grasslands.
Dry grasslands are one of the most species-rich yet highly threatened habitats in Europe. Decades of land-use change and habitat degradation have made many unique dry grassland species vulnerable to extinction. Butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) play important ecological roles as pollinators, herbivores, and prey, while also serving as bioindicators of environmental change. Several flagship species [2] associated with dry grasslands, including species in the genera Zygaena, Melitaea, Polyommatus, and Hesperia, have declined and are listed as Near Threatened or Threatened with extinction on the Czech Red List of Invertebrates.
The newly funded project will use whole-genome sequencing data and population and comparative genomics to investigate how habitat loss and climate change impact genetic diversity patterns, population connectivity, and adaptive potential in these butterflies.
Specifically, the project will:
1) estimate population genetic metrics related to structure, gene flow, and demographic history,
2) identify highly differentiated genomic regions among populations that might be linked to local adaptation along climatic gradients, and
3) compare patterns of gene family evolution across species from contrasting habitats.
This effort builds on the COST Action 10kLepGenomes, a European network that uses genomic data of Lepidoptera to understand the effects of climate change on populations and inform conservation practice. The project on dry grassland butterflies closely collaborates with other 10kLepGenomes members, including Prof. Mark Blaxter and Dr. Joana Meier (Wellcome Sanger Institute, UK), Prof. Kay Lucek (University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland), and Prof. Chris Wheat (Stockholm University, Sweden), and it utilizes resources and standardized protocols generated by Project Psyche [3] and the European Lepidopteran Population Genomics Consortium (LepEU) [4].
By working together with the Czech Nature Conservation Agency and coordinating efforts with 10kLepGenomes WG1, we expect that the project’s population genomics insights will inform conservation and management efforts in Czechia and Europe.
Contact information and interest for collaboration, please write to:
Dr. Pável Matos-Maraví, [email protected]
Biology Centre CAS, Institute of Entomology, Czechia
[1] The INTER-COST is part of the INTER-EXCELLENCE II program for international cooperation in research and development of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of Czechia. More information (in Czech language): https://msmt.gov.cz/vyzkum-a-vyvoj-2/inter-cost-1
[2] Flagship species generate public engagement, raise biodiversity awareness, and stimulate funding, research and conservation action. Some flagship species can serve as habitat conservation surrogates when those are tightly associated with threatened biotopes.
[3] Project Psyche is a community that aims to generate chromosome-level, annotated reference genomes for all Lepidoptera in Europe. To know more about Project Psyche, please visit: https://www.projectpsyche.org/
[4] The LepEU is a consortium that focuses on population genomics and the study of local adaptation of selected Lepidoptera species in Europe. More information about LepEU can be found here: https://lepeu.github.io/