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Conservation genetics of American crocodile, Crocodylus acutus, populations in Pacific Costa Rica
- Source :
- Nature Conservation 17: 1-17, Nature Conservation, Vol 17, Iss, Pp 1-17 (2017)
- Publication Year :
- 2017
- Publisher :
- Pensoft Publishers, 2017.
-
Abstract
- Maintaining genetic diversity is crucial for the survival and management of threatened and endangered species. In this study, we analyzed genetic diversity and population genetic structure at neutral loci in American crocodiles, Crocodylus acutus, from several areas (Parque Nacional Marino Las Baulas, Parque Nacional Santa Rosa, Parque Nacional Palo Verde, Rio Tarcoles, and Osa Conservation Area) in Pacific Costa Rica. We genotyped 184 individuals at nine microsatellite loci to describe the genetic diversity and conservation genetics between and among populations. No population was at Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE) over all loci tested and a small to moderate amount of inbreeding was present. Populations along the Pacific coast had an average heterozygosity of 0.572 across all loci. All populations were significantly differentiated from each other with both FST and RST measures of population differentiation with a greater degree of molecular variance (81%) found within populations. Our results suggest C. acutus populations in Pacific Costa Rica were not panmictic with moderate levels of genetic diversity. An effective management plan that maintains the connectivity between clusters is critical to the success of C. acutus in Pacific Costa Rica.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
Conservation genetics
Reptilia
lcsh:QH1-199.5
Crocodylus acutus
Zoology
lcsh:General. Including nature conservation, geographical distribution
Crocodile
010603 evolutionary biology
01 natural sciences
Crocodylus
microsatellites
Crocodylia
lcsh:QH540-549.5
biology.animal
genetic structure
Animalia
heterozygosity
Chordata
Nature and Landscape Conservation
biology
Ecology
010604 marine biology & hydrobiology
population genetics
biology.organism_classification
Crocodylidae
lcsh:Ecology
human activities
geographic locations
American crocodile
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 13143301 and 13146947
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Nature Conservation
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....13f3f015a476f60f8a2482e0e3b367db