Genetic diversity, structure and conservation of the endangered Cantabrian Capercaillie in a unique peripheral habitat

Alda, Fernando; González, Marco Aurélio Stumpf; Olea, Pedro P.; Ena, Vicente; Godinho, Raquel; Drovetski, Sergei V.

doi:10.1007/s10344-013-0727-6

Cited by 12 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 55 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Furthermore, only very few active leks are known for the entire area (approx. 10, Rösner et al unpublished), which might lead to higher relatedness among males as relatives establish at leks in the vicinity of their natal areas (see Regnaut et al 2006;Alda et al 2013). Moreover, adult males show high lek site fidelity (Wegge and Larsen 1987) and mating success is highly skewed, with only one or very few successfully mating males (Mäki-Petäys et al 2007;Storch 1997).…”

Section: Population Sizementioning

confidence: 93%

“…The boreal forests harbor the largest populations of this grouse (about 760,000 to 1,000,000 breeding pairs; BirdLife International 2012). In temperate Europe, its distribution is mainly linked to natural coniferous forests (Storch 2001;Segelbacher and Piertney 2007, but see Alda et al 2013) with the largest population in the Alps and smaller populations across low mountain regions with altitudes above 900 m a.s.l. (Mollet et al 2003;Storch 2001).…”

Section: Focal Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Noninvasive genetic sampling allows estimation of capercaillie numbers and population structure in the Bohemian Forest

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Wildlife conservation and management of endangered species requires reliable information on the size and structure of populations. One of the flagship species in European wildlife conservation is the forest-dwelling capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus), where several populations are endangered. In the Bohemian Forest, e.g., the population severely declined 30 years ago with only 100 birds remaining in 1985. Subsequently, breeding and release programs were conducted to supplement the local population. The current distribution and population size, however, remained unknown. With recent habitat changes and increasing recreational activities, a reliable population estimate to inform conservation plans was needed. A team of scientists and volunteers collected fresh capercaillie droppings covering an area of about 120,000 ha. We genotyped ten microsatellite loci to estimate the current population size and to determine the population's spatial and genetic structure.Population size and density estimators revealed a population size of approximately 500 individuals, which is thus one of the two largest relict populations in the low mountain ranges of temperate Europe. The population clustering revealed gene flow across the entire study area. Several genotypes were documented with multiple recaptures at spatial distances between 10 and 30 km additionally corroborating gene flow across the entire landscape of the study area. Males were more closely related than females on small spatial scales up to 3 km, indicating lower dispersal rates in males. We conclude that the population currently appears to have a viable size and shows unrestricted gene flow across state borders and management units of the entire Bohemian Forest. However, long-term viability of this population requires a transboundary strategy to sustainably protect and monitor this isolated capercaillie population in Central Europe.

show abstract

Section: Population Sizementioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Focal Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Noninvasive genetic sampling allows estimation of capercaillie numbers and population structure in the Bohemian Forest

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This pattern belies the difficulty of obtaining high quality DNA for many species, the greater availability of specimens that may have lower quality DNA, and the untapped potential of these samples to address key questions in ecology and evolution. Tremendous biological insight can be gained from specimens which may have degraded DNA due to environmental or storage conditions including road-killed specimens (Rusterholz, Ursenbacher, Coray, Weibel, & Baur, 2015;Say, Devillard, Léger, Pontier, & Ruette, 2012), shed substances including feces, feathers, or fur (Alda et al, 2013;Hans et al, 2015;Waits & Paetkau, 2005), as well as museum and herbarium specimens (Beck & Semple, 2015;Gilbert, Moore, Melchior, & Worobey, 2007;Sproul & Maddison, 2017). Recent work on ancient specimens has revealed great potential for NGS with very limited amounts of highly degraded DNA (Heintzman et al, 2015;Knapp & Hofreiter, 2010;Kosintsev et al, 2018), although most ancient studies focus on large vertebrate taxa (but see Heintzman, Elias, Moore, Paszkiewicz, & Barnes, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Utilizing field collected insects for next generation sequencing: Effects of sampling, storage, and DNA extraction methods

Ballare

Pope

Castilla

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

DNA sequencing technologies continue to advance the biological sciences, expanding opportunities for genomic studies of non‐model organisms for basic and applied questions. Despite these opportunities, many next generation sequencing protocols have been developed assuming a substantial quantity of high molecular weight DNA (>100 ng), which can be difficult to obtain for many study systems. In particular, the ability to sequence field‐collected specimens that exhibit varying levels of DNA degradation remains largely unexplored. In this study we investigate the influence of five traditional insect capture and curation methods on Double‐Digest Restriction Enzyme Associated DNA (ddRAD) sequencing success for three wild bee species. We sequenced a total of 105 specimens (between 7–13 specimens per species and treatment). We additionally investigated how different DNA quality metrics (including pre‐sequence concentration and contamination) predicted downstream sequencing success, and also compared two DNA extraction methods. We report successful library preparation for all specimens, with all treatments and extraction methods producing enough highly reliable loci for population genetic analyses. Although results varied between species, we found that specimens collected by net sampling directly into 100% EtOH, or by passive trapping followed by 100% EtOH storage before pinning tended to produce higher quality ddRAD assemblies, likely as a result of rapid specimen desiccation. Surprisingly, we found that specimens preserved in propylene glycol during field sampling exhibited lower‐quality assemblies. We provide recommendations for each treatment, extraction method, and DNA quality assessment, and further encourage researchers to consider utilizing a wider variety of specimens for genomic analyses.

show abstract

“…Community interactions and environmental conditions usually vary throughout a species’ range (Guo et al 2005), and thus it is advisable to assess habitat preferences in the area where the conservation measures are required (Quevedo et al 2006). More specifically, peripheral populations, considered as those located close to the edge of a species’ distribution, often experience less favourable environmental conditions and are smaller, making them more prone to extinction (Sagarin et al 2006, Alda et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A multi-scale analysis of habitat selection in peripheral populations of the endangered Dupont’s LarkChersophilus duponti

Pérez‐Granados

Iborra

Seoane

2016

Bird Conservation International

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

SummaryHabitat selection of endangered species in peripheral populations must be considered when designing effective conservation plans, as these populations tend to occupy atypical habitats where species-environment relationships are not well understood. We examined patterns of habitat use in peripheral populations of the endangered Dupont’s Lark Chersophilus duplonti using a multi-scale approach and assessed the spatiotemporal transferability of these models to test for their generality. Our results show that at microhabitat (circles of 50-m diameter used by the species versus random points) and macrohabitat (occupied/unoccupied squares of 1 ha) scales the species selected flat and non-forested areas, but at the microhabitat scale the cover of small shrubs was also important. Models developed at patch scale (occupied /unoccupied sites) identified only site size as an important predictor of species occurrence. Habitat models transferred successfully among sites and years, which suggests that these models and our recommendations may be extrapolated over a larger geographic area. A multi-scale approach was used for identifying conservation requirements at different spatial scales. At the patch scale our models confirm it is a priority to maintain or enlarge the extent of habitat patches to ensure the viability of the studied metapopulation. At the macrohabitat scale our results suggest that reducing tree density in low slope areas would be the most effective management action. At the microhabitat scale, encouraging the presence of small and medium-sized shrubs, by clearing certain scrubs (e.g. large brooms Genista spp. and rosemary Rosmarinus officinalis) or promoting traditional low-level extensive grazing, should increase the availability of high-quality habitats for the species, and thus the number of potential territories within a patch. These recommendations largely coincide with the ones given for core populations at specific scales elsewhere.

show abstract

Genetic diversity, structure and conservation of the endangered Cantabrian Capercaillie in a unique peripheral habitat

Cited by 12 publications

References 55 publications

Noninvasive genetic sampling allows estimation of capercaillie numbers and population structure in the Bohemian Forest

Noninvasive genetic sampling allows estimation of capercaillie numbers and population structure in the Bohemian Forest

Utilizing field collected insects for next generation sequencing: Effects of sampling, storage, and DNA extraction methods

A multi-scale analysis of habitat selection in peripheral populations of the endangered Dupont’s LarkChersophilus duponti

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About