A new article of interest to some on the chatline- and its open
access: at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.393/pdf
Robin Hide
Roshier, D. A., R. Heinsohn, G. J. Adcock, Peter Beerli and L.
Joseph (2012). “Biogeographic models of gene flow in two waterfowl
of the Australo-Papuan tropics.” Ecology and Evolution 2(9):
Early View (Online Version of Record published before inclusion in
an issue).
Keywords: Anseriforms, genetic connectivity, Papua New Guinea,
Australia.
Abstract: There are many large, easy-to-observe anseriform birds
(ducks, geese, and swans) in northern Australia and New Guinea and
they often gather in large numbers. Yet, the structure of their
populations and their regional movements are poorly understood. Lack
of understanding of population structure limits our capacity to
understand source-sink dynamics relevant to their conservation or
assess risks associated with avian-borne pathogens, in particular,
avian influenza for which waterfowl are the main reservoir species.
We set out to assess present-day genetic connectivity between
populations of two widely distributed waterfowl in the
Australo-Papuan tropics, magpie goose Anseranas semipalmata
(Latham, 1798) and wandering whistling-duck Dendrocygna arcuata
(Horsfield, 1824). Microsatellite data were obtained from 237 magpie
geese and 64 wandering whistling-duck. Samples were collected across
northern Australia, and at one site each in New Guinea and Timor
Leste. In the wandering whistling-duck, genetic diversity was
significantly apportioned by region and sampling location. For this
species, the best model of population structure was New Guinea as
the source population for all other populations. One remarkable
result for this species was genetic separation of two flocks sampled
contemporaneously on Cape York Peninsula only a few kilometers
apart. In contrast, evidence for population structure was much
weaker in the magpie goose, and Cape York as the source population
provided the best fit to the observed structure. The fine scale
genetic structure observed in wandering whistling-duck and magpie
goose is consistent with earlier suggestions that the west-coast of
Cape York Peninsula is a flyway for Australo-Papuan anseriforms
between Australia and New Guinea across Torres Strait.
This is an Open Access article under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution Non Commercial License which permits use,
distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original
work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.393/pdf
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