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Comparison of historical bottleneck effects and genetic consequences of re-introduction in a critically endangered island passerine

Bristol, Rachel M., Tucker, Rachel, Dawson, Deborah A., Horsburgh, Gavin J., Prys-Jones, Robert P., Frantz, Alain C., Krupa, Andy, Shah, Nirmal J., Burke, Terry, Groombridge, Jim J. and others. (2013) Comparison of historical bottleneck effects and genetic consequences of re-introduction in a critically endangered island passerine. Molecular Ecology, 22 (18). pp. 4644-4662. ISSN 0962-1083. (doi:10.1111/mec.12429) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:40340)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.12429

Abstract

Re-introduction is an important tool for recovering endangered species; however, the magnitude of genetic consequences for re-introduced populations remains largely unknown, in particular the relative impacts of historical population bottlenecks compared to those induced by conservation management. We characterize 14 microsatellite loci developed for the Seychelles paradise flycatcher and use them to quantify temporal and spatial measures of genetic variation across a 134-year time frame encompassing a historical bottleneck that reduced the species to ~28 individuals in the 1960s, through the initial stages of recovery and across a second contemporary conservation-introduction-induced bottleneck. We then evaluate the relative impacts of the two bottlenecks, and finally apply our findings to inform broader re-introduction strategy. We find a temporal trend of significant decrease in standard measures of genetic diversity across the historical bottleneck, but only a nonsignificant downward trend in number of alleles across the contemporary bottleneck. However, accounting for the different timescales of the two bottlenecks (~40 historical generations versus <1 contemporary generation), the loss of genetic diversity per generation is greater across the contemporary bottleneck. Historically, the flycatcher population was genetically structured; however, extinction on four of five islands has resulted in a homogeneous contemporary population. We conclude that severe historical bottlenecks can leave a large footprint in terms of sheer quantity of genetic diversity lost. However, severely depleted genetic diversity does not render a species immune to further genetic erosion upon re-introduction. In some cases, the loss of genetic diversity per generation can, initially at least, be greater across re-introduction-induced bottlenecks.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1111/mec.12429
Additional information: Contribution 70%;
Uncontrolled keywords: Bottleneck, conservation, microsatellite, re-introduction, Tersiphone Corvina.
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation
G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation
Depositing User: Jim Groombridge
Date Deposited: 07 Mar 2014 00:05 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:15 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/40340 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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