Conservation genetics of Houbara Bustard (Chlamydotis undulata undulata): population structure and its implications for the reinforcement of wild populations

The major decline of Houbara Bustards-sensu lato-throughout their range has led to their classification as 'vulnerable' on the IUCN Red List. Within this context, a captive breeding program was established in Morocco to restock North African wild populations of Houbara Bustard (Chlamydotis undulata undulata). At present, founders originate from locations that are currently being reinforced through the addition of captive bred individuals. However, it is planned to restock others areas of the species' range. Before this could be considered, an accurate knowledge of the genetic structure of the wild recipient population is essential to delineate potential conservation units. We therefore sampled populations throughout most of the remaining range, and used several methods to evaluate their genetic differentiation by means of both mtDNA and microsatellite markers. Very little genetic differentiation was found for both genetic markers (I broken vertical bar(st) ranged from -0.181 to 0.118 and F (st) ranged from -0.004 to 0.019). This suggests that C. u. undulata populations could be managed as a single Conservation Unit.