Linking genetic diversity and temporal fluctuations in population abundance of the introduced feral cat (Felis silvestris catus) on the Kerguelen archipelago
Linking temporal variations of genetic diversity, including allelic richness and heterozygosity, and spatio‐temporal fluctuations in population abundance has emerged as an important tool for understanding demographic and evolutionary processes in natural populations. This so‐called genetic monitorin...
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Published in | Molecular ecology Vol. 20; no. 24; pp. 5141 - 5153 |
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Main Authors | , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Oxford, UK
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
01.12.2011
Wiley |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Linking temporal variations of genetic diversity, including allelic richness and heterozygosity, and spatio‐temporal fluctuations in population abundance has emerged as an important tool for understanding demographic and evolutionary processes in natural populations. This so‐called genetic monitoring was conducted across 12 consecutive years (1996–2007) at three sites for the feral cat, introduced onto the Kerguelen archipelago fifty years ago. Temporal changes in allelic richness and heterozygosity at 18 microsatellite DNA loci were compared with temporal changes in the adult population abundance index, obtained by typical demographic monitoring. No association was found at the island spatial scale, but we observed an association between genetic diversity and adult population indices from year to year within each study site. More particularly, the magnitude of successive increases or decreases in the adult population abundance index appeared to be the major factor linking the trajectories of genetic diversity and adult population abundance indices. Natal dispersal and/or local recruitment, both facilitated by high juvenile survival when the adult population size is small, is proposed as the major demographic processes contributing to such an observed pattern. Finally, we suggested avoiding the use of the harmonic mean as an estimator of long‐term population size to study the relationships between demographic fluctuations and heterozygosity in populations characterized by strong multiannual density fluctuations. |
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Bibliography: | ArticleID:MEC5329 istex:BE0B5429304A169E730B49176BF99628D64FAB44 ark:/67375/WNG-20FK1VRR-1 ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-2 ObjectType-Feature-1 |
ISSN: | 0962-1083 1365-294X |
DOI: | 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2011.05329.x |