Mitochondrial Evidence for Panmixia despite Perceived Barriers to Gene Flow in a Widely Distributed Waterbird

We examined the mitochondrial genetic structure of American white pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) to: 1) verify or refute whether American white pelicans are panmictic and 2) understand if any lack of genetic structure is the result of contemporary processes or historical phenomena. Sequence an...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of heredity 2011-09, Vol.102 (5), p.584-592
Main Authors: Oomen, Rebekah A., Reudink, Matthew W., Nocera, Joseph J., Somers, Christopher M., Green, M. Clay, Kyle, Christopher J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal Migration
Animals
Birds
Birds - classification
Birds - genetics
DNA, Mitochondrial - genetics
Gene Flow
Genes
Genetic Variation
Genetics, Population
Haplotypes
Marine
Mitochondrial DNA
Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
Phylogeny
Phylogeography
Studies
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We examined the mitochondrial genetic structure of American white pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) to: 1) verify or refute whether American white pelicans are panmictic and 2) understand if any lack of genetic structure is the result of contemporary processes or historical phenomena. Sequence analysis of mitochondrial DNA control region haplotypes of 367 individuals from 19 colonies located across their North American range revealed a lack of population genetic or phylogeographic structure. This lack of structure was unexpected because: 1) Major geographic barriers such as the North American Continental Divide are thought to limit dispersal; 2) Differences in migratory behavior are expected to promote population differentiation; and 3) Many widespread North American migratory bird species show historic patterns of differentiation resulting from having inhabited multiple glacial refugia. Further, high haplotype diversity and many rare haplotypes are maintained across the species' distribution, despite frequent local extinctions and recolonizations that are expected to decrease diversity. Our findings suggest that American white pelicans have a high effective population size and low natal philopatry. We suggest that the rangewide panmixia we observed in American white pelicans is due to high historical and contemporary gene flow, enabled by high mobility and a lack of effective physical or behavioral barriers.
ISSN:0022-1503
1465-7333
DOI:10.1093/jhered/esr055