Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Ambystoma--Middle West--Genetics; Ambystoma--Conservation--Middle West; Middle West; Academic theses;
Abstract
Arguably, the primary intention of conservation genetics is to preserve allelic variability within and among populations, because a lack of genetic diversity may adversely effect the viability of a population subjected to variable environmental conditions. The influence of such evolutionary processes as genetic erosion and inbreeding depression may be pronounced for increasingly small and isolated populations. Blue-spotted salamanders (Ambystoma laterale), though widespread and relatively common throughout northeastern North America, are marked by a pair of peripherally isolated populations at the southwestern boundary of the range. These populations are putative relicts of post-glacial isolation and thus provide a model from which to ascertain the extent and rapidity of evolutionary decay in disjunct amphibian populations. Herein, the genetics of both relict populations was compared to that of a reference population, which is presumably in genetic contiguity with the greater extent of the species distribution. F-statistics, heterozygosity, effective population size, deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium expectations, and time since divergence between populations, for each population, were determined by assessing allelic variation at five polymorphic nuclear microsatellite loci. Results indicate substantial inbreeding, as well as a recent genetic bottleneck, for one of the presently isolated populations; this population, therefore, may be subject to a heightened risk of extirpation. Tangentially, the present condition of blue-spotted salamanders may be indicative of the status of other amphibian and reptilian species in the same geographic localities, given that these biota may be susceptible to many of the same environmental perturbations.
Year of Submission
2005
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Department of Biology
First Advisor
Theresa A. Spradling
Second Advisor
James W. Demastes
Third Advisor
Jeffrey Tamplin
Date Original
2005
Object Description
1 PDF file (70 leaves)
Copyright
©2005 Jonathan Michael Eastman
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Eastman, Jonathan Michael, "Conservation Genetics of Blue-Spotted Salamanders (Ambystoma laterale) in the Upper Midwest" (2005). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 2541.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/2541
Comments
If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.