Stabilizing selection on Atlantic cod supergenes through a millennium of extensive exploitation
Marte Sodeland, Sissel Jentoft, Per Erik Jorde, Morten Mattingsdal, Jon Albretsen, Alf Ring Kleiven, Ann‐Elin Wårøy Synnes, Sigurd Heiberg Espeland, Esben Moland Olsen, Carl André, Nils Chr. Stenseth, Halvor Knutsen
Abstract
) has historically been highly abundant and is considered a keystone species in ecosystems of the northern Atlantic Ocean. Collapses of cod stocks have been observed on both sides of the Atlantic and reported to have detrimental effects that include vast ecosystem reshuffling. By whole-genome resequencing we demonstrate that stabilizing selection maintains three extensive "supergenes" in Atlantic cod, linking these genes to species persistence and ecological stasis. Genomic inference of historic effective population sizes shows continued declines for cod in the North Sea-Skagerrak-Kattegat system through the past millennia, consistent with an early onset of the marine Anthropocene through industrialization and commercialization of fisheries throughout the medieval period.