Population genetic structure of the blue-fronted Amazon (Amazona aestiva, Psittacidae: Aves) based on nuclear microsatellite loci: implications for conservation

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The blue-fronted Amazon (Amazona aestiva) is a widely distributed Neotropical parrot and one of the most captured parrots in nature to supply the illegal trade of wild animals. The objectives of the present study were to analyze the genetic structure of A. aestiva to identify management units and support conservation planning and to verified if A. aestiva populations have undergone a recent bottleneck due to habitat loss and capture for the pet trade. The genetic structure was accessed by analyzing six microsatellite loci in 74 individuals of A. aestiva, including samples from the two subspecies (A. a. aestiva and A. a. xanthopteryx), from five populations: four in Brazil and one in Argentina. A significant genetic dif- ferentiation (θ = 0.007, P = 0.005) could be detected only between the most distant populations, Tocantins and Argentina, localized at the northeast and southwest limits of the sample sites, respectively. There was no evidence of inbreeding within or between populations, suggesting random mating among individuals. These results suggest a clinal distribution of genetic variability, as observed for variation in plumage color of the two A. aestiva subspecies. Bottleneck analysis did not show a recent reduction in population size. Thus, for the management and conservation of the species, the populations from Argentina and Tocantins should be considered as different management units, and the other populations from the center of the geographical distribution as another management unit.

Biodiversity of the urban homegardens of São Luís city, Northeastern Brazil

“…There has also been massive illegal trade in the hyacinth macaw as well as local hunting for food and feathers (Mittermeier et al 1990). Similarly the blue-fronted Amazon (Amazona aestiva) is one of the most frequently captured parrots in the world for the pet trade because of its exuberant color pattern, sociability and ability to reproduce human words (Leite et al 2008). Habitat destruction due to agricultural and urban landscape expansion has been the main threat to Amazona aestiva, reducing natural cavities for nesting and food availability (Collar and Juniper 1992).…”

Limited Dispersal and Significant Fine - Scale Genetic Structure in a Tropical Montane Parrot Species

“…This is surprising since parrots are usually thought to be highly mobile birds with often high levels of gene flow between distant populations [64,65]. Although low dispersal affinity might be expected in species with exceptionally small distribution ranges and high habitat specialization like in the El Oro parakeet, on comparable spatial scales, similar amounts of differentiation were found for strongly territorial understory birds, like the chestnut-backed antbird ( Myrmeciza exsul ) [19] and the Australian logrunner ( Orthonyx temminckii ) [18].…”

Pleistocene climatic oscillations associated with landscape heterogeneity of the South American dry diagonal explains the phylogeographic structure of the narrow‐billed woodcreeper (Lepidocolaptes angustirostris, Dendrocolaptidae)

“…Birds inhabiting open environments tend to have high dispersion capacity, which would lead to high gene flow among populations and, therefore, less geographic differentiation (Bates et al 2003, Leite et al 2008. However, species with large geographical distribution, such as many inhabitants of the dry diagonal, may also have limited gene flow across their ranges due to isolation by distance (Wright 1946, Holderegger and Wagner 2006, Van Strien et al 2015.…”