Genetic Variability within and among Wintering Populations of Brant

• Main Authors: Novak, J. M., Smith, L. M., Vangilder, L. D.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 1989
• Subjects: Brief Communications; Branta bernicla
• Online Access: http://jhered.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/80/2/160

Brant ( Branta bernicla hrota ) were collected from wintering populations in New York, New Jersey, and Virginia. Twenty-eight putative electrophoretic loci were examined to assess genetic variability and to quantify the genetic structure of wintering populations. Multilocus heterozygosity was not significantly different from that expected for an avian species. However, the percentage of polymorphism was lower than expected. One locus, PEP-1 , exhibited a null allele, the first report of a null allele at an electrophoretic locus in waterfowl. The wintering populations exhibited some genetic differences, but the magnitude of the differences was small. We concluded that there is some restriction of gene flow between the wintering populations, and thus wintering populations of Brant do not represent a totally panmictic population in the strict sense. This is most likely a result of female philopatry and familial cohesiveness. However, the reduction in gene flow does not indicate strict concordance between breeding and wintering populations.