The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP), possesses a climate as cold as that of the Arctic, and also presents uniquely low oxygen concentrations and intense ultraviolet (UV) radiation. QTP animals have adapted to these extreme conditions, but whether they obtained genetic variations from the Arctic during cold adaptation, and how genomic mutations in non-coding regions regulate gene expression under hypoxia and intense UV environment, remain largely unknown. Here, we assemble a high-quality saker falcon genome and resequence populations across Eurasia. We identify female-biased hybridization with Arctic gyrfalcons in the last glacial maximum, that endowed eastern sakers with alleles conveying larger body size and changes in fat metabolism, predisposing their QTP cold adaptation. We discover that QTP hypoxia and UV adaptations mainly involve independent changes in non-coding genomic variants. Our study highlights key roles of gene flow from Arctic relatives during QTP hypothermia adaptation, and cis-regulatory elements during hypoxic response and UV protection.

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Accurate individual identification is required to estimate survival rates in avian populations. For endangered species, non-invasive methods of obtaining individual identification, such as using molted feathers as a source of DNA for microsatellite markers, are preferred because of less disturbance, easy sample preparation and high efficiency. With the availability of many avian genomes, a few pipelines isolating genome-wide microsatellites have been published, but it is still a challenge to isolate microsatellites from the reference genome efficiently. Here, we have developed an integrated tool comprising a bioinformatic pipeline and experimental procedures for microsatellite isolation and validation based on the reference genome. We have identified over 95 000 microsatellite loci and established a system comprising 10 highly polymorphic markers (PIC value: 0.49-0.93, mean: 0.79) for an endangered species, saker falcon (Falco cherrug). These markers (except 1) were successfully amplified in 126 molted feathers, exhibiting high amplification success rates (83.9-99.7%), high quality index (0.90-0.97) and low allelic dropout rates (1-9.5%). To further assess the efficiency of this marker system in a population study, we identified individual sakers using these molted feathers (adult) and 146 plucked feathers (offspring). The use of parent and offspring samples enabled us to infer the genotype of missing samples (N = 28), and all adult genotypes were used to ascertain that breeding turnover is a useful proxy for survival estimation in sakers. Our study presents a cost-effective tool for microsatellite isolation based on publicly available reference genomes and demonstrates the power of this tool in estimating key parameters of avian population dynamics.