Reconstructing eight decades of genetic variation in an isolated Danish population of the large blue butterfly Maculinea arion.
BMC Evol Biol
; 11: 201, 2011 Jul 11.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-21745368
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Fragmentation of terrestrial ecosystems has had detrimental effects on metapopulations of habitat specialists. Maculinea butterflies have been particularly affected because of their specialized lifecycles, requiring both specific food-plants and host-ants. However, the interaction between dispersal, effective population size, and long-term genetic erosion of these endangered butterflies remains unknown. Using non-destructive sampling, we investigated the genetic diversity of the last extant population of M. arion in Denmark, which experienced critically low numbers in the 1980s.RESULTS:
Using nine microsatellite markers, we show that the population is genetically impoverished compared to nearby populations in Sweden, but less so than monitoring programs suggested. Ten additional short repeat microsatellites were used to reconstruct changes in genetic diversity and population structure over the last 77 years from museum specimens. We also tested amplification efficiency in such historical samples as a function of repeat length and sample age. Low population numbers in the 1980s did not affect genetic diversity, but considerable turnover of alleles has characterized this population throughout the time-span of our analysis.CONCLUSIONS:
Our results suggest that M. arion is less sensitive to genetic erosion via population bottlenecks than previously thought, and that managing clusters of high quality habitat may be key for long-term conservation.
Texto completo:
1
Bases de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Mariposas Diurnas
Límite:
Animals
País/Región como asunto:
Europa
Idioma:
En
Revista:
BMC Evol Biol
Asunto de la revista:
BIOLOGIA
Año:
2011
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Dinamarca