4.6 Article

Genetic Bottlenecks Driven by Population Disconnection

Journal

CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
Volume 24, Issue 6, Pages 1596-1605

Publisher

WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2010.01556.x

Keywords

allelic richness; bottleneck; connectivity; European tree frog; gene diversity; Hyla arborea; isolation; aislamiento; conectividad; cuello de botella; diversidad genetica; Hyla arborea; riqueza alelica

Funding

  1. Swiss Cantons of Argovia
  2. Thurgau
  3. Zurich
  4. MAVA
  5. U.W. Linsi
  6. Wolfermann-Nageli
  7. Seebachtal foundations
  8. Council of the Isere department
  9. French National Research Agency [BLAN06-1-158238]
  10. National Swiss Science Foundation [3100A0-108100]

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Connectivity among populations plays a crucial role in maintaining genetic variation at a local scale, especially in small populations affected strongly by genetic drift. The negative consequences of population disconnection on allelic richness and gene diversity (heterozygosity) are well recognized and empirically established. It is not well recognized, however, that a sudden drop in local effective population size induced by such disconnection produces a temporary disequilibrium in allelic frequency distributions that is akin to the genetic signature of a demographic bottleneck. To document this effect, we used individual-based simulations and empirical data on allelic richness and gene diversity in six pairs of isolated versus well-connected (core) populations of European tree frogs. In our simulations, population disconnection depressed allelic richness more than heterozygosity and thus resulted in a temporary excess in gene diversity relative to mutation drift equilibrium (i.e., signature of a genetic bottleneck). We observed a similar excess in gene diversity in isolated populations of tree frogs. Our results show that population disconnection can create a genetic bottleneck in the absence of demographic collapse.

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