scholarly journals Spatio-temporal population structuring and genetic diversity retention in depleted Atlantic Bluefin tuna of the Mediterranean Sea

2010 ◽  
Vol 107 (5) ◽  
pp. 2102-2107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Riccioni ◽  
Monica Landi ◽  
Giorgia Ferrara ◽  
Ilaria Milano ◽  
Alessia Cariani ◽  
...  

Fishery genetics have greatly changed our understanding of population dynamics and structuring in marine fish. In this study, we show that the Atlantic Bluefin tuna (ABFT, Thunnus thynnus), an oceanic predatory species exhibiting highly migratory behavior, large population size, and high potential for dispersal during early life stages, displays significant genetic differences over space and time, both at the fine and large scales of variation. We compared microsatellite variation of contemporary (n = 256) and historical (n = 99) biological samples of ABFTs of the central-western Mediterranean Sea, the latter dating back to the early 20th century. Measures of genetic differentiation and a general heterozygote deficit suggest that differences exist among population samples, both now and 96–80 years ago. Thus, ABFTs do not represent a single panmictic population in the Mediterranean Sea. Statistics designed to infer changes in population size, both from current and past genetic variation, suggest that some Mediterranean ABFT populations, although still not severely reduced in their genetic potential, might have suffered from demographic declines. The short-term estimates of effective population size are straddled on the minimum threshold (effective population size = 500) indicated to maintain genetic diversity and evolutionary potential across several generations in natural populations.

Author(s):  
Aglaia Antoniou ◽  
Panagiotis Kasapidis ◽  
Georgios Kotoulas ◽  
Constantinos C. Mylonas ◽  
Antonios Magoulas

2016 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. C. Miao ◽  
Z. J. Zhang ◽  
J. R. Su

Abstract Taxus yunnanensis, which is an endangered tree that is considered valuable because it contains the effective natural anticancer metabolite taxol and heteropolysaccharides, has long suffered from severe habitat fragmentation. In this study, the levels of genetic diversity in two populations of 136 individuals were analyzed based on eleven polymorphic microsatellite loci. Our results suggested that these two populations were characterized by low genetic diversity (NE = 2.303/2.557; HO = 0.168/0.142; HE = 0.453/0.517), a population bottleneck, a low effective population size (Ne = 7/9), a high level of inbreeding (FIS = 0.596/0.702), and a weak, but significant spatial genetic structure (Sp = 0.001, b = −0.001*). Habitat fragmentation, seed shadow overlap and limited seed and pollen dispersal and potential selfing may have contributed to the observed gene tic structure. The results of the present study will enable development of practical conservation measures to effectively conserve the valuable genetic resources of this endangered plant.


PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e10348
Author(s):  
Austin S. Chipps ◽  
Amanda M. Hale ◽  
Sara P. Weaver ◽  
Dean A. Williams

There are increasing concerns regarding bat mortality at wind energy facilities, especially as installed capacity continues to grow. In North America, wind energy development has recently expanded into the Lower Rio Grande Valley in south Texas where bat species had not previously been exposed to wind turbines. Our study sought to characterize genetic diversity, population structure, and effective population size in Dasypterus ega and D. intermedius, two tree-roosting yellow bats native to this region and for which little is known about their population biology and seasonal movements. There was no evidence of population substructure in either species. Genetic diversity at mitochondrial and microsatellite loci was lower in these yellow bat taxa than in previously studied migratory tree bat species in North America, which may be due to the non-migratory nature of these species at our study site, the fact that our study site is located at a geographic range end for both taxa, and possibly weak ascertainment bias at microsatellite loci. Historical effective population size (NEF) was large for both species, while current estimates of Ne had upper 95% confidence limits that encompassed infinity. We found evidence of strong mitochondrial differentiation between the two putative subspecies of D. intermedius (D. i. floridanus and D. i. intermedius) which are sympatric in this region of Texas, yet little differentiation using microsatellite loci. We suggest this pattern is due to secondary contact and hybridization and possibly incomplete lineage sorting at microsatellite loci. We also found evidence of some hybridization between D. ega and D. intermedius in this region of Texas. We recommend that our data serve as a starting point for the long-term genetic monitoring of these species in order to better understand the impacts of wind-related mortality on these populations over time.


2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1922) ◽  
pp. 20192613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa G. Dierickx ◽  
Simon Yung Wa Sin ◽  
H. Pieter J. van Veelen ◽  
M. de L. Brooke ◽  
Yang Liu ◽  
...  

Small effective population sizes could expose island species to inbreeding and loss of genetic variation. Here, we investigate factors shaping genetic diversity in the Raso lark, which has been restricted to a single islet for approximately 500 years, with a population size of a few hundred. We assembled a reference genome for the related Eurasian skylark and then assessed diversity and demographic history using RAD-seq data (75 samples from Raso larks and two related mainland species). We first identify broad tracts of suppressed recombination in females, indicating enlarged neo-sex chromosomes. We then show that genetic diversity across autosomes in the Raso lark is lower than in its mainland relatives, but inconsistent with long-term persistence at its current population size. Finally, we find that genetic signatures of the recent population contraction are overshadowed by an ancient expansion and persistence of a very large population until the human settlement of Cape Verde. Our findings show how genome-wide approaches to study endangered species can help avoid confounding effects of genome architecture on diversity estimates, and how present-day diversity can be shaped by ancient demographic events.


Animals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuqi Diao ◽  
Shuwen Huang ◽  
Zhiting Xu ◽  
Shaopan Ye ◽  
Xiaolong Yuan ◽  
...  

To investigate the genetic diversity, population structure, extent of linkage disequilibrium (LD), effective population size (Ne), and selection signatures in indigenous pigs from Guangdong and Guangxi in China, 226 pigs belonging to ten diverse populations were genotyped using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) chips. The genetic divergence between Chinese and Western pigs was determined based on the SNP chip data. Low genetic diversity of Dahuabai (DHB), Luchuan (LC), Lantang (LT), and Meihua (MH) pigs, and introgression of Western pigs into Longlin (LL), MH, and Yuedonghei (YDH) pigs were detected. Analysis of the extent of LD showed that indigenous pigs had low LD when pairwise SNP distance was short and high LD when pairwise SNP distance was long. Effective population size analysis showed a rapid decrease for Chinese indigenous pigs, and some pig populations had a relatively small Ne. This result indicated the loss of genetic diversity in indigenous pigs, and introgression from Western commercial pigs. Selection signatures detected in this study overlapped with meat quality traits, such as drip loss, intramuscular fat content, meat color b*, and average backfat thickness. Our study deepened understanding of the conservation status and domestication of Chinese indigenous pigs.


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