Early colonisation population structure of a Norway rat island invasion

Russell, James C.; Abdelkrim, Jawad; Fewster, Rachel M.

doi:10.1007/s10530-008-9406-z

Cited by 25 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…We selected 22 microsatellite loci from different genetic studies on the Rattus genus (Abdelkrim et al, 2005;Loiseau et al, 2008;Russell et al, 2009). Out of these, five did not amplify in R. satarae.…”

Section: Dna Extraction and Amplificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We performed sequence assembly using the program Geneious v7 (Geneious created by Biomatters: available from http://www.geneious.com/.Geneious v.7). All haplotypes have been deposited in GenBank database with the accession numbers KJ603317-KJ603409 and KP159524-KP159565.We selected 22 microsatellite loci from different genetic studies on the Rattus genus (Abdelkrim et al, 2005;Loiseau et al, 2008;Russell et al, 2009). Out of these, five did not amplify in R. satarae.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Commensalism facilitates gene flow in mountains: a comparison between two Rattus species

Varudkar

Ramakrishnan

2015

Heredity

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A Varudkar and U RamakrishnanSmall mammal dispersal is strongly affected by geographical barriers. However, commensal small mammals may be passively transported over large distances and strong barriers by humans (often with agricultural products). This pattern should be especially apparent in topographically complex landscapes, such as mountain ranges, where valleys and/or peaks can limit dispersal of less vagile species. We predict that commensal species would have lower genetic differentiation and higher migration rates than related non-commensals in such landscapes. We contrasted population genetic differentiation in two sympatric Rattus species (R. satarae and R. rattus) in the Western Ghats mountains in southern India. We sampled rats from villages and adjacent forests in seven locations (20-640 km apart). Capture-based statistics confirmed that R. rattus is abundant in human settlements in this region, whereas R. satarae is non-commensal and found mostly in forests. Population structure analyses using~970-bp mitochondrial control region and 17 microsatellite loci revealed higher differentiation for the non-commensal species (R. satarae F-statistics = 0.420, 0.065, R. rattus F-statistics = 0.195, 0.034; mitochondrial DNA, microsatellites, respectively). Genetic clustering analyses confirm that clusters in R. satarae are more distinct and less admixed than those in R. rattus. R. satarae shows higher slope for isolation-by-distance compared with R. rattus. Although mode of migration estimates do not strongly suggest higher rates in R. rattus than in R. satarae, they indicate that migration over long distances could still be higher in R. rattus. We suggest that association with humans could drive the observed pattern of differentiation in the commensal R. rattus, consequently impacting not only their dispersal abilities, but also their evolutionary trajectories. INTRODUCTIONHumans present a strong evolutionary force, driving the trajectories of several animal and plant species closely associated with them, called commensals or synanthropes (Matisoo-Smith, 2009;Zeder, 2012). These species are believed to be intermediate between being wild and being domesticated (Vigne, 2011;Zeder, 2012) and include some of the world's most cosmopolitan species such as the house mouse (Mus musculus), brown rat (Rattus norvegicus), house sparrow (Passer domesticus) and house crow (Corvus splendens).Commensals benefit from human interactions through exploitation of anthropogenic ecosystems for food and shelter. In addition, human-mediated transport of founding individuals over long distances results in large geographical ranges for these species and colonisation of new areas, which would otherwise be inaccessible (Cucchi and Vigne, 2006;Jones et al., 2012). Consequently, human activities could promote their diffusion by eliminating ecological, as well as landscape barriers, thereby aiding in 'jump dispersal' across longer distances and potent barriers (Schrey et al., 2014).Of the prominent landscape features that act as barriers ...

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Section: Dna Extraction and Amplificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Commensalism facilitates gene flow in mountains: a comparison between two Rattus species

Varudkar

Ramakrishnan

2015

Heredity

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“…Although in this instance the sample size is small, male-biased dispersal has been noted in other small mammal populations (Hansson 1991;Lawson Handley & Perrin 2007). Russell et al (2009a) recorded only large male ship rats swimming to Goat Island and King et al (2011) documented juvenile male-biased dispersal into a forest fragment posteradication of the local population in the Waikato. Following the 2008 eradication attempt on Motu Kaikoura, rats were detected in early 2009 with the majority being male and suspected to be swimmers (H. Doig pers.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In spite of this, biomarkers may be particularly powerful for narrowing down source sites where a sink site suffers constant reinvasion-an ongoing problem in maintaining pest-free island status (Russell et al 2009a). The eradications on Motu Kaikoura and the Broken Islands induced a sink effect whereby reinvasion was inevitable due to high ecological connectivity within a wider meta-population on Great Barrier Island (Russell et al 2009b).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tracking invasive rat movements with a systemic biomarker

Bagasara¹,

Nathan²,

Mitchell³

et al. 2016

NZ J Ecol

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Invasive rats can be capable swimmers, able to cross substantial water channels of hundreds of metres to colonise islands. This dispersal capability puts at risk islands close enough to infested areas for rats to reach unassisted. When reinvasion rates are high, biosecurity surveillance on islands might be supported by source population control to prevent re-establishment. However, biosecurity surveillance can only detect reinvading rats when they arrive and the source of reinvading rats might remain unknown. In order to validate hypothesised source sites we used the biomarker Rhodamine B to detect water crossings by ship rats (Rattus rattus) from Great Barrier Island to two neighbouring island groups where eradications had been attempted in the past but were subject to high levels of reinvasion. We detected Rhodamine B in rats dispersing to both island sites, confirming the dispersal of rats across the water gaps, and confirming the hypothesised source sites where additional rat control may be warranted. Chemical markers provide a cost-effective tool to label individuals and determine point sources of origin, most powerfully in situations where dispersal is happening over a scale of weeks.

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“…Several papers in this special issue of Biological Invasions provide comparative and historical baselines detailing what we know of patterns of introduction of commensal vertebrates in the Pacific Islands (Anderson 2008;Matisoo-Smith and Robins 2008), as well as their prehistoric impacts (Athens 2008;Prebble and Wilmshurst 2008;Russell et al 2008; see also Hunt 2007). The archaeological and palaeoecological records reveal how the effects of invasive species may vary significantly by island ecology, biogeography, and history.…”

Section: Palaeoecological and Archeological Evidence Of Rodent Invasionsmentioning

confidence: 99%