COMPARATIVE ANALYSES OF EFFECTIVE POPULATION SIZE WITHIN AND AMONG SPECIES: RANID FROGS AS A CASE STUDY

    Authors

    I. C. Phillipsen; W. C. Funk; E. A. Hoffman; K. J. Monsen;M. S. Blouin

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Evolution

    Keywords

    amphibians; population genetics; genetic diversity; Ranidae; conservation genetics; NORTHERN LEOPARD FROG; SOUTHWESTERN BRITISH-COLUMBIA; LONG-TOED; SALAMANDER; GENETIC-STRUCTURE; LINKAGE DISEQUILIBRIUM; SPOTTED FROG; LANDSCAPE GENETICS; PRETIOSA-PRETIOSA; AURORA-AURORA; DIVERSITY; Ecology; Evolutionary Biology; Genetics & Heredity

    Abstract

    It has recently become practicable to estimate the effective sizes (N-e) of multiple populations within species. Such efforts are valuable for estimating N-e in evolutionary modeling and conservation planning. We used microsatellite loci to estimate N-e of 90 populations of four ranid frog species (20-26 populations per species, mean n per population = 29). Our objectives were to determine typical values of N-e for populations of each species, compare N-e estimates among the species, and test for correlations between several geographic variables and N-e within species. We used single-sample linkage disequilibrium (LD), approximate Bayesian computation (ABC), and sibship assignment (SA) methods to estimate contemporary N-e for each population. Three of the species-Rana pretiosa, R. luteiventris, and R. cascadae-have consistently small effective population sizes ( < 50). N-e in Lithobates pipiens spans a wider range, with some values in the hundreds or thousands. There is a strong east-to-west trend of decreasing N-e in L. pipiens. The smaller effective sizes of western populations of this species may be related to habitat fragmentation and population bottlenecking.

    Journal Title

    Evolution

    Volume

    65

    Issue/Number

    10

    Publication Date

    1-1-2011

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    2927

    Last Page

    2945

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000295521600019

    ISSN

    0014-3820

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