Data from: Resolving patterns of population genetic and phylogeographic structure to inform control and eradication initiatives for brown rats Rattus norvegicus on South Georgia

The control and eradication of invasive species is a common management strategy to protect or restore native biodiversity. On South Georgia in the Southern Ocean, the brown rat Rattus norvegicus was brought onto the island with the onset of whaling and sealing activity in the 1800s and has had a sig...

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Main Authors: Piertney, Stuart B., Black, Andy, Watt, Laura, Christie, Darren, Poncet, Sally, Collins, Martin A.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: 2015
Subjects:
Rat
SNP
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10255/dryad.102772
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9133p
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spelling ftdryad:oai:v1.datadryad.org:10255/dryad.102772 2023-05-15T18:26:01+02:00 Data from: Resolving patterns of population genetic and phylogeographic structure to inform control and eradication initiatives for brown rats Rattus norvegicus on South Georgia Piertney, Stuart B. Black, Andy Watt, Laura Christie, Darren Poncet, Sally Collins, Martin A. South Georgia 2015-12-14T22:09:05Z http://hdl.handle.net/10255/dryad.102772 https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9133p unknown doi:10.5061/dryad.9133p/1 doi:10.1111/1365-2664.12589 doi:10.5061/dryad.9133p Piertney SB, Black A, Watt L, Christie D, Poncet S, Collins MA (2016) Resolving patterns of population genetic and phylogeographic structure to inform control and eradication initiatives for brown rats Rattus norvegicus on South Georgia. Journal of Applied Ecology 53(2): 332-339. http://hdl.handle.net/10255/dryad.102772 Eradication Rat SNP Population genetic Invasion Phylogeography Article 2015 ftdryad https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9133p https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9133p/1 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.12589 2020-01-01T15:27:35Z The control and eradication of invasive species is a common management strategy to protect or restore native biodiversity. On South Georgia in the Southern Ocean, the brown rat Rattus norvegicus was brought onto the island with the onset of whaling and sealing activity in the 1800s and has had a significant detrimental impact on key bird species of conservation concern. Efforts to eradicate rats from South Georgia using poisoned bait are ongoing. Despite the South Georgia rat eradication programme being the geographically largest and most ambitious eradication initiative to date, its success is facilitated by the potential that rat populations are effectively isolated by glacial barriers. This allows for localized eradication effort at manageable scales, leading to sequential eradication of individual populations with minimal risk of incursion from neighbouring areas. Here, we use the levels of population genetic divergence estimated from 299 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci and DNA sequence variation across 993 base pairs of the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome B locus to examine whether rat populations from nine glacially isolated areas on South Georgia are genetically distinct and so can be treated as independent eradication units. Bayesian clustering of individuals based on SNP similarity identified seven different genetic groups, which were confirmed using analyses based on pairwise genetic distance estimates and ordination of individuals using principal coordinate analysis. From a management perspective, these seven groups represent individual targets in baiting operations. Two mtDNA haplotypes were resolved across South Georgia, with a distinct geographical separation between the north-western and south-eastern populations. Approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) was used to identify that this divergence was a consequence of two separate historical colonization events. Synthesis and applications. We illustrate that molecular markers are a valuable tool in species management and pest eradication given that the spatial distribution of genetic diversity can: (i) identify demographically and genetically independent populations on which local eradication effort can be focussed, (ii) distinguish between incomplete eradication and immigration in situations where individuals remain after eradication has been attempted and (iii) identify the source of migrants when dispersal occurs over large spatial scales. Article in Journal/Newspaper Southern Ocean Dryad Digital Repository (Duke University) Southern Ocean
institution Open Polar
collection Dryad Digital Repository (Duke University)
op_collection_id ftdryad
language unknown
topic Eradication
Rat
SNP
Population genetic
Invasion
Phylogeography
spellingShingle Eradication
Rat
SNP
Population genetic
Invasion
Phylogeography
Piertney, Stuart B.
Black, Andy
Watt, Laura
Christie, Darren
Poncet, Sally
Collins, Martin A.
Data from: Resolving patterns of population genetic and phylogeographic structure to inform control and eradication initiatives for brown rats Rattus norvegicus on South Georgia
topic_facet Eradication
Rat
SNP
Population genetic
Invasion
Phylogeography
description The control and eradication of invasive species is a common management strategy to protect or restore native biodiversity. On South Georgia in the Southern Ocean, the brown rat Rattus norvegicus was brought onto the island with the onset of whaling and sealing activity in the 1800s and has had a significant detrimental impact on key bird species of conservation concern. Efforts to eradicate rats from South Georgia using poisoned bait are ongoing. Despite the South Georgia rat eradication programme being the geographically largest and most ambitious eradication initiative to date, its success is facilitated by the potential that rat populations are effectively isolated by glacial barriers. This allows for localized eradication effort at manageable scales, leading to sequential eradication of individual populations with minimal risk of incursion from neighbouring areas. Here, we use the levels of population genetic divergence estimated from 299 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci and DNA sequence variation across 993 base pairs of the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome B locus to examine whether rat populations from nine glacially isolated areas on South Georgia are genetically distinct and so can be treated as independent eradication units. Bayesian clustering of individuals based on SNP similarity identified seven different genetic groups, which were confirmed using analyses based on pairwise genetic distance estimates and ordination of individuals using principal coordinate analysis. From a management perspective, these seven groups represent individual targets in baiting operations. Two mtDNA haplotypes were resolved across South Georgia, with a distinct geographical separation between the north-western and south-eastern populations. Approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) was used to identify that this divergence was a consequence of two separate historical colonization events. Synthesis and applications. We illustrate that molecular markers are a valuable tool in species management and pest eradication given that the spatial distribution of genetic diversity can: (i) identify demographically and genetically independent populations on which local eradication effort can be focussed, (ii) distinguish between incomplete eradication and immigration in situations where individuals remain after eradication has been attempted and (iii) identify the source of migrants when dispersal occurs over large spatial scales.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Piertney, Stuart B.
Black, Andy
Watt, Laura
Christie, Darren
Poncet, Sally
Collins, Martin A.
author_facet Piertney, Stuart B.
Black, Andy
Watt, Laura
Christie, Darren
Poncet, Sally
Collins, Martin A.
author_sort Piertney, Stuart B.
title Data from: Resolving patterns of population genetic and phylogeographic structure to inform control and eradication initiatives for brown rats Rattus norvegicus on South Georgia
title_short Data from: Resolving patterns of population genetic and phylogeographic structure to inform control and eradication initiatives for brown rats Rattus norvegicus on South Georgia
title_full Data from: Resolving patterns of population genetic and phylogeographic structure to inform control and eradication initiatives for brown rats Rattus norvegicus on South Georgia
title_fullStr Data from: Resolving patterns of population genetic and phylogeographic structure to inform control and eradication initiatives for brown rats Rattus norvegicus on South Georgia
title_full_unstemmed Data from: Resolving patterns of population genetic and phylogeographic structure to inform control and eradication initiatives for brown rats Rattus norvegicus on South Georgia
title_sort data from: resolving patterns of population genetic and phylogeographic structure to inform control and eradication initiatives for brown rats rattus norvegicus on south georgia
publishDate 2015
url http://hdl.handle.net/10255/dryad.102772
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9133p
op_coverage South Georgia
geographic Southern Ocean
geographic_facet Southern Ocean
genre Southern Ocean
genre_facet Southern Ocean
op_relation doi:10.5061/dryad.9133p/1
doi:10.1111/1365-2664.12589
doi:10.5061/dryad.9133p
Piertney SB, Black A, Watt L, Christie D, Poncet S, Collins MA (2016) Resolving patterns of population genetic and phylogeographic structure to inform control and eradication initiatives for brown rats Rattus norvegicus on South Georgia. Journal of Applied Ecology 53(2): 332-339.
http://hdl.handle.net/10255/dryad.102772
op_doi https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9133p
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9133p/1
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.12589
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