Pronounced genetic structure and low genetic diversity in European red-billed chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax) populations

Marius Alexander Wenzel, Lucy M. I. Webster, Guillermo Blanco, Malcolm D. Burgess, Christian Kerbiriou, Gernot Segelbacher, Stuart B. Piertney, Jane M. Reid*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

25 Citations (Scopus)
15 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The red-billed chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax) is of conservation concern in the British Isles and continental Europe, with historically declining populations and a highly fragmented distribution. We quantified the distribution of genetic variation within and among European populations to identify isolated populations that may need to be managed as demographically independent units, and assess whether individual populations are denuded of genetic diversity and so may show reduced viability. We genotyped 326 choughs from ten wild populations and 22 from one captive population at 16 nuclear microsatellite loci, and sequenced 34 individuals across three mitochondrial regions to quantify genetic structure, diversity and phylogeography. Microsatellite diversity was low (often <4 alleles per locus), but pairwise population differentiation was high (often D est > 0.1), with a signature of isolation-by-distance. Bayesian-inferred a posteriori genetic clusters coincided with a priori populations, supporting strong genetic structure. Microsatellites also allowed us to identify the probable origin of the captive choughs and one recently founded wild population. Mitochondrial DNA sequence diversity was low (p = 0.00103). Phylogeographic structure was consequently poorly resolved, but indicated that sampled continental-European populations are ancestral to British Isles populations, which comprised a single clade. Our data suggest that British Isles chough populations are relatively isolated with infrequent gene flow and relatively genetically depauperate, potentially requiring genetic management. These findings should be integrated into conservation management policy to ensure long-term viability of chough populations.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1213-1230
Number of pages18
JournalConservation Genetics
Volume13
Issue number5
Early online date15 Jun 2012
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2012

Bibliographical note

Conservation Genetics
August 2015, Volume 16, Issue 4, pp 1011–1012
Erratum to: Pronounced genetic structure and low genetic diversity in European red-billed chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax) populations

Erratum to: Conserv Genet (2012) 13:1213–1230 DOI 10.1007/s10592-012-0366-6

In the original publication, Tables 3 and 6 were published with incorrect estimates of population heterozygosities. All other diversity statistics were correct as originally presented. Updated versions of Tables 3 and 6 with corrected heterozygosity estimates confirmed using Arlequin 3.5 (Excoffier and Lischer 2010) as in Dávila et al. (2014) are provided in this erratum. Discrepancies were minor for populations on the British Isles. The correct estimates for Spain are slightly larger than those reported for La Palma by Dávila et al. (2014), but this does not necessarily affect their interpretation that choughs on La Palma may have originated from multiple migration events. The original conclusion that chough populations on the British Isles have low genetic diversity compared to continental European populations remains and is now, in fact, strengthened.

Keywords

  • connectivity
  • genetic structure
  • genetic diversity
  • microsatellite
  • mitochondrial DNA
  • recolonisation
  • Red-billed chough
  • control-region sequences
  • Isle-of-Man
  • mitochondrial-DNA
  • microsatellite markers
  • conservation genetics
  • natural-populations
  • computer-program
  • United-Kingdom
  • F-statistics
  • growth rate

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