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Genetic
status of the wood stork (Mycteria americana) from the southeastern
United States and the Brazilian Pantanal as revealed by mitochondrial
DNA analysis
I. F. Lopes1,3,
A. M. Tomasulo-Seccomandi1,2, A. L. Bryan Jr.2,
I. L. Brisbin Jr.2, T. C. Glenn2,4, and S. N.
Del Lama1
1Departamento
de Genética e Evolução, Universidade Federal de
São Carlos, São Carlos, SP, Brasil
2Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia,
Drawer E, Aiken, SC, USA
3Departamento de Engenharia de Biossistemas, Universidade
Federal de São João Del-Rei,
Campus CTAN, São João Del-Rei, MG, Brasil
4Department of Environmental Health Science, University of
Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
Abstract:
The wood stork (Mycteria americana) is a colonial wading bird
that inhabits the Neotropical region from the southeastern United States
(US) to northern Argentina. The species is considered to be endangered
in the US due to degradation of its foraging and breeding habitat. In
other parts of its range, such as in the Brazilian Pantanal region, breeding
populations of this species appear to be stable. We compared the levels
of genetic variability and population structuring of the US and the Pantanal
breeding populations using mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region sequences.
Twenty-seven haplotypes were identified among 88 wood stork samples collected
from eight breeding colonies in the US and eight in the Pantanal. Patterns
indicative of heteroplasmy were observed in 35.3% of the mtDNA sequences
that were examined. Significantly higher levels of haplotype diversity
were observed in the Pantanal samples compared to those from the US, suggesting
that during the last century, demographic declines or a recent evolutionary
bottleneck reduced the levels of mtDNA variability of the US population.
Analyses of genetic structuring revealed non-significant genetic differentiation
between these regions, indicating that either the populations were only
recently separated or that gene flow continues to occur at low levels.
Haplotype network analysis indicated low current levels of gene flow between
populations that were closely related in the past.
Keywords:
Ciconiiformes; Conservation genetics; Heteroplasmy; Demographic history;
Population structuring; Waterbirds
SREL Reprint
#3189
Lopes, I.
F., A. M. Tomasulo-Seccomandi, A. L. Bryan Jr., I. L. Brisbin Jr., T.
C. Glenn, and S. N. Del Lama. 2011. Genetic status of the wood stork (Mycteria
americana) from the southeastern United States and the Brazilian Pantanal
as revealed by mitochondrial DNA analysis. Genetics and Molecular Research
10(3): 1910-1922.
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