Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Remaining genetic diversity in Brazilian Merganser (Mergus octosetaceus)

  • Short Communication
  • Published:
Conservation Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The Brazilian Merganser is a very rare and threatened species that nowadays inhabits only a few protected areas and their surroundings in the Brazilian territory. In order to estimate the remaining genetic diversity and population structure in this species, two mitochondrial genes were sequenced in 39 individuals belonging to two populations and in one individual collected in Argentina in 1950. We found a highly significant divergence between two major remaining populations of Mergus octosetaceus, which suggests a historical population structure in this species. Furthermore, two deeply divergent lineages were found in a single location, which could due to current or historical secondary contact. Based on the available genetic data, we point out future directions which would contribute to design strategies for conservation and management of this threatened species.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

References

  • Antas PTZ (1996) The Brazilian Merganser (Mergus octosetaceus), the most threatened duck in South America. Game Wildfl 13:799–800

    Google Scholar 

  • Bandelt HJ, Forster P, Rohl A (1999) Median-joining networks for inferring intraspecific phylogenies. Mol Biol Evol 16:37–48

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • BirdLife_International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona and Cambrigde

    Google Scholar 

  • Cabanne GS, d’Horta FM, Sari EHR, Santos FR, Miyaki CY (2008) Nuclear and mitochondrial phylogeography of the Atlantic forest endemic Xiphorhynchus fuscus (Aves: Dendrocolaptidae): biogeography and systematics implications. Mol Phylogenet Evol 49:760–773

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Donne-Gousse C, Laudet V, Hanni C (2002) A molecular phylogeny of anseriformes based on mitochondrial DNA analysis. Mol Phylogenet Evol 23:339–356

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Drummond AJ, Rambaut A (2007) BEAST: Bayesian evolutionary analysis by sampling trees. Bmc Evol Biol 7:214–221

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Excoffier L, Lischer HE (2010) Arlequin suite ver 3.5: a new series of programs to perform population genetics analyses under Linux and Windows. Mol Ecol Resour 10:564–657

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fay JC, Wu CI (2000) Hitchhiking under positive Darwinian selection. Genetics 155:1405–1413

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Frankham R, Briscoe DA, Ballou JD (2002) Introduction to conservation genetics. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Fu YX (1997) Statistical tests of neutrality of mutations against population growth, hitchhiking and background selection. Genetics 147:915–925

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hefti-Gautschi B, Pfunder M, Jenni L, Keller V, Ellegren H (2009) Identification of conservation units in the European Mergus merganser based on nuclear and mitochondrial markers. Conserv Genet 10:87–99

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes B, Dugger B, Cunha HJ, Lamas I, Goerck J, Lins L, Silveira LF, Andrade R, Bruno SF, Rigueira S, Barros YM (2006) Action plan for the conservation of the Brazilian Merganser Mergus octosetaceus. Ibama, Brasília

    Google Scholar 

  • IUCN (2010) IUCN red list of threatened species. Version 2010. http://www.iucnredlist.org/. Accessed 01 Dec 2010

  • Lamas IR (2006) Census of Brazilian Merganser Mergus octosetaceus in the region of Serra da Canastra National Park, Brazil, with discussion of its threats and conservation. Bird Conserv Int 16:145–154

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Librado P, Rozas J (2009) DnaSP v5: a software for comprehensive analysis of DNA polymorphism data. Bioinformatics 25:1451–1452

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Livezey BC (1995) phylogeny and evolutionary ecology of modern seaducks (Anatidae, Mergini). Condor 97:233–255

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacCarthy EM (2006) Handbook of avian hybrids of the world. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Munoz-Fuentes V, Green AJ, Negro JJ, Sorenson MD (2005) Population structure and loss of genetic diversity in the endangered white-headed duck, Oxyura leucocephala. Conserv Genet 6:999–1015

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Przeworski M (2002) The signature of positive selection at randomly chosen loci. Genetics 160:1179–1189

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rambaut A, Drummond AJ (2007) Tracer version 1.5 available from http://beast.bio.ed.ac.uk/Tracer

  • Ramos AC, Lemos-Filho JP, Ribeiro RA, Santos FR, Lovato MB (2007) Phylogeography of the tree Hymenaea stigonocarpa (Fabaceae: Caesalpinioideae) and the influence of quaternary climate changes in the Brazilian Cerrado. Ann Bot 100:1219–1228

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ridgely RS, Allnutt TF, Brooks T, McNicol DK, Mehlman DW, Young BE, Zook JR (2007) Digital Distribution Maps of the Birds of the Western Hemisphere, version 3.0, Nature serve, Arlington

  • Solovyeva DV, Pearce JM (2011) Comparative mitochondrial genetics of North American and Eurasian mergansers with an emphasis on the endangered scaly-sided merganser (Mergus squamatus). Conserv Genet 12:839–844

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sorenson MD, Ast JC, Dimcheff DE, Yuri T, Mindell DP (1999) Primers for a PCR-based approach to mitochondrial genome sequencing in birds and other vertebrates. Mol Phylogenet Evol 12:105–114

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tajima F (1989) Statistical-method for testing the neutral mutation hypothesis by DNA polymorphism. Genetics 123:585–595

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tubaro PL, Lijtmaer DA (2002) Hybridization patterns and the evolution of reproductive isolation in ducks. Biol J Linn Soc 77:193–200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vilaça ST, Santos FR (2010) Biogeographic history of the species complex Basileuterus culicivorus (Aves, Parulidae) in the Neotropics. Mol Phylogenet Evol 57:585–597

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank the Specialist Work Group for the Conservation of Brazilian Merganser for valuable discussions and opinions on this manuscript. We also thank all the staff from Instituto Terra Brasilis and Funatura (Vivian S. Braz and Gislaine Disconzi) for collecting the samples at Serra da Canastra and Chapada dos Veadeiros, respectively; Dario A. Lijtmaerand and Pablo Tubaro for providing the samples from Argentina, Bradley C. Livezey for sending copies of his papers, and Geoff M. Hilton and Paulo de Tarso Z. Antas for useful suggestions that greatly improved this manuscript. The present study received grants from FAPEMIG, CNPq, Petrobras Ambiental and Fundação O Boticário de Conservação da Natureza, and followed all ethical guidelines and legal requirements of Brazil for sampling and studying an endangered species.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Sibelle Torres Vilaça

    Present address: Dipartamento di Biologia Ed Evoluzione, Università di Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Biologia Geral, Laboratório de Biodiversidade e Evolução Molecular, ICB, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos, 6627, C.P. 486, Belo Horizonte, MG, 31270-010, Brazil

    Sibelle Torres Vilaça, Rodrigo A. F. Redondo & Fabricio R. Santos

  2. Institute of Science and Technology, Klosterneuburg, Austria

    Rodrigo A. F. Redondo

  3. Instituto Terra Brasilis, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

    Livia Vanucci Lins

Authors
  1. Sibelle Torres Vilaça
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rodrigo A. F. Redondo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Livia Vanucci Lins
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Fabricio R. Santos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fabricio R. Santos.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (TIFF 584 kb)

Supplementary material 2 (DOC 21 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Vilaça, S.T., Redondo, R.A.F., Lins, L.V. et al. Remaining genetic diversity in Brazilian Merganser (Mergus octosetaceus). Conserv Genet 13, 293–298 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-011-0262-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-011-0262-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation