Journal
MOLECULAR ECOLOGY
Volume 17, Issue 19, Pages 4346-4358Publisher
WILEY-BLACKWELL
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2008.03906.x
Keywords
cooperative breeding; Corcorax melanorhamphos; dispersal; genetic structure; sex-bias; spatial autocorrelation
Funding
- Stuart Leslie Bird Research Award
- Linnean Society of NSW Joyce W. Vickery Scientific Research Fund
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This study used eight polymorphic microsatellite loci to examine the relative effects of social organization and dispersal on fine-scale genetic structure in an obligately cooperative breeding bird, the white-winged chough (Corcorax melanorhamphos). Using both individual-level and population-level analyses, it was found that the majority of chough groups consisted of close relatives and there was significant differentiation among groups (F(ST) = 0.124). However, spatial autocorrelation analysis revealed strong spatial genetic structure among groups up to 2 km apart, indicating above average relatedness among neighbours. Multiple analyses showed a unique lack of sex-biased dispersal. As such, choughs may offer a model species for the study of the evolution of sex-biased dispersal in cooperatively breeding birds. These findings suggest that genetic structure in white-winged choughs reflects the interplay between social barriers to dispersal resulting in large family groups that can remain stable over long periods of times, and short dispersal distances which lead to above average relatedness among neighbouring groups.
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