Urbanization shapes the demographic history of a native rodent (the white-footed mouse, Peromyscus leucopus) in New York City

Abstract

How urbanization shapes population genomic diversity and evolution of urban wildlife is largely unexplored. We investigated the impact of urbanization on white-footed mice, Peromyscus leucopus, in the New York City (NYC) metropolitan area using coalescent-based simulations to infer demographic history from the site-frequency spectrum. We assigned individuals to evolutionary clusters and then inferred recent divergence times, population size changes and migration using genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms genotyped in 23 populations sampled along an urban-to-rural gradient. Both prehistoric climatic events and recent urbanization impacted these populations. Our modelling indicates that post-glacial sea-level rise led to isolation of mainland and Long Island populations. These models also indicate that several urban parks represent recently isolated P. leucopus populations, and the estimated divergence times for these populations are consistent with the history of urbanization in NYC.