Genetic diversity and differentiation in Hazel grouse (Bonasa bonasia)
Auteur : Rosza (Jani)
Année de publication : 2011
Publication : Master of Science, Uppsala
Pagination : 1-31
Résumé :
Range expansions - as opposed to range contractions and habitat fragmentation – has seen rather recent interest in population genetics and may have some counter intuitive effects on diversity, such as gradients in allele frequencies and loss of diversity. Hazel grouse (Bonasa bonasia) is one of the smallest members of the grouse (Tetraonidae) and one of few expanding ranges of its distribution occurs in a north to south axis in the French Alps. In this study, a comparison is made of both neutral (microsatellite) and adaptive (MHC) genetic diversity and differentiation in Hazel grouse, comparing three subpopulations along the range expansion axis in France, and two subpopulations in Sweden that have a continuous stable distribution. It is asked (i) whether patterns of diversity and differentiation follows any theoretical expectations of range expansions, (ii) if patterns observed in neutral genetic diversity at microsatellite loci correspond to patterns observed in adaptive genetic diversity at MHC class IIB loci, and (iii) what conservation management decisions, in the context of establishing management units (MUs), can be made from the above. While the Swedish subpopulations had uniform neutral diversity indices and showed lower than expected isolation-by-distance, the French subpopulations showed a gradient-like decline in both neutral and adaptive genetic diversity and an increasing isolation-by-distance along the range expansion axis.