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PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF COMMON LOON GENETIC STRUCTURE IN NORTH AMERICA BASED ON FIVE MICROSATELLITE LOCI
Citation:
McMillan, A., M J. Bagley, AND D. Evers. PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF COMMON LOON GENETIC STRUCTURE IN NORTH AMERICA BASED ON FIVE MICROSATELLITE LOCI. Presented at Society for Conservation Biology, New York, NY, July 30-August 2, 2004.
Impact/Purpose:
The objective of this task is to develop molecular indicators to evaluate the integrity and sustainability of aquatic fish, invertebrate, and plant communities (GPRA goal 4.5.2). Specifically, this subtask aims to evaluate methods for the measurement of:
fish and invertebrate community composition, especially for morphologically indistinct (cryptic) species
population genetic structure of aquatic indicator species and its relationship to landscape determinants of population structure (to aid in defining natural assessment units and to allow correlation of population substructure with regional stressor coverages)
genetic diversity within populations of aquatic indicator species, as an indicator of vulnerability to further exposure and as an indicator of cumulative exposure
patterns of temporal change in genetic diversity of aquatic indicator species, as a monitoring tool for establishing long-term population trends.
Description:
This study seeks to determine fine-scale genetic structure of Common Loon breeding populations in order to link wintering birds with their breeding regions. Common Loons are large piscivorous birds that breed in lakes of northern North America and Iceland. Loons are highly philopatric and territorial in breeding areas and are susceptible to mercury poisoning, lake acidification and other threats across much of this region. Wintering loon populations originate from a mix of breeding regions. In North America, wintering populations are found primarily in nearshore coastal environments and these birds are susceptible to oil spills. Loons also are threatened by the current botulism poisoning outbreak, which has killed thousands of loons in the Great Lakes. Despite significant demographic data, little is known about the population genetic structure of Common Loons. Preliminary analysis using five polymorphic microsatellite loci demonstrated strong differentiation between loons in eastern and western North America. Differentiation among five putative eastern loon breeding populations was also identified. Differences were found in four of ten pairwise comparisons. The information developed on loon population structure will be crucial for understanding year-round impacts on these birds.