Comparative conservation genetics of protected endemic fishes in an arid-land riverscape

Conservation genetic studies are challenged by the fact that populations of many imperiled species have experienced declines and fragmentation to the degree they no longer exhibit natural, self-sustaining metapopulation processes; characteristics of great importance to managers charged with their pr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Conservation genetics 2015-08, Vol.16 (4), p.875-888
Main Authors: Pilger, Tyler J, Gido, Keith B, Propst, David L, Whitney, James E, Turner, Thomas F
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal Genetics and Genomics
Animal populations
Biodiversity
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Brackish
Cobitis
Comparative studies
Conservation biology
Conservation Biology/Ecology
Conservation genetics
Diversion structures
Ecology
Endangered & extinct species
Endangered species
Endemic animals
Evolutionary Biology
extinction
fish
gene flow
Genetic diversity
Genetic structure
genetic variation
Genetics
Gila
habitats
Inbreeding
indigenous species
Life Sciences
managers
Meda fulgida
Metapopulations
microsatellite repeats
Pisces
Plant Genetics and Genomics
population
Population structure
Research Article
Rhinichthys
risk
rivers
Species extinction
Tiaroga cobitis
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Summary:Conservation genetic studies are challenged by the fact that populations of many imperiled species have experienced declines and fragmentation to the degree they no longer exhibit natural, self-sustaining metapopulation processes; characteristics of great importance to managers charged with their protection. Genetic patterns of species from minimally impacted systems can inform management practices for populations in more modified and fragmented systems. We assessed spatial and temporal patterns of intraspecific genetic diversity and differentiation using microsatellites for three imperiled fishes of the unfragmented upper Gila River, New Mexico, USA. Estimates of contemporary effective size were low for these species, but we observed little genetic evidence of inbreeding. Overall genetic structure was low (all species FST 
ISSN:1566-0621
1572-9737
DOI:10.1007/s10592-015-0707-3