Panmixia on a continental scale in a widely distributed colonial waterbird
نویسندگان
چکیده
Many highly mobile species, such as migratory birds, can move and disperse over long distances, yet exhibit high levels of population genetic structuring. Although movement capabilities may enable dispersal, gene flow may be restricted by behavioural constraints such as philopatry. In the present study, we examined patterns of genetic differentiation across the range of a highly mobile, colonial waterbird. American white pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) breed across continental North America and are currently experiencing a range expansion, especially on the eastern range limit. To assess patterns of genetic structuring, we sampled 333 individuals from 19 colonies across their North American range. The use of ten variable microsatellite markers revealed high levels of allelic richness with no population differentiation. Both Bayesian and frequentist approaches to examining genetic structuring revealed a single panmictic population. We found no evidence of genetic structuring across the Continental Divide or between migratory and non-migratory colonies. The lack of any genetic structure across the range indicates that, unlike other waterbirds with similar life-history characteristics, extensive gene flow and presumably low philopatry appear to preclude genetic differentiation. The lack of population genetic structure in American white pelicans provides an example of range-wide panmixia, a rare phenomenon in any terrestrial species. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 102, 583–592.
منابع مشابه
Mitochondrial evidence for panmixia despite perceived barriers to gene flow in a widely distributed waterbird.
We examined the mitochondrial genetic structure of American white pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) to: 1) verify or refute whether American white pelicans are panmictic and 2) understand if any lack of genetic structure is the result of contemporary processes or historical phenomena. Sequence analysis of mitochondrial DNA control region haplotypes of 367 individuals from 19 colonies located...
متن کاملContinent-wide panmixia of an African fruit bat facilitates transmission of potentially zoonotic viruses
The straw-coloured fruit bat, Eidolon helvum, is Africa's most widely distributed and commonly hunted fruit bat, often living in close proximity to human populations. This species has been identified as a reservoir of potentially zoonotic viruses, but uncertainties remain regarding viral transmission dynamics and mechanisms of persistence. Here we combine genetic and serological analyses of pop...
متن کاملEvaluation of Long-term Habitat and Colonial Waterbird Dynamics of Shamrock Island, Nueces County, Texas
متن کامل
Presence of plastic particles in waterbirds faeces collected in Spanish lakes.
Plastic intake by marine vertebrates has been widely reported, but information about its presence in continental waterfowl is scarce. Here we analyzed faeces of waterbirds species (European coot, Fulica atra, mallard, Anas platyrhynchos and shelduck, Tadorna tadorna) for plastic debris in five wetlands in Central Spain. We collected 89 faeces of shelduck distributed in four lakes, 43.8% of them...
متن کاملTesting local-scale panmixia provides insights into the cryptic ecology, evolution, and epidemiology of metazoan animal parasites.
When every individual has an equal chance of mating with other individuals, the population is classified as panmictic. Amongst metazoan parasites of animals, local-scale panmixia can be disrupted due to not only non-random mating, but also non-random transmission among individual hosts of a single host population or non-random transmission among sympatric host species. Population genetics theor...
متن کامل