Comparing Genetic Diversity Along Populations of Rock Sandpipers (Calidris ptilocnemis)

• Main Author: Alfonso, Hyland
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Scholarly Commons @ Ouachita 2022
• Subjects: Animal Sciences; Ornithology; Pacific; Seward Peninsula; Aleutian Islands
• Online Access: https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/scholars_day_conference/2022/honors_theses_a/9; https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1290&context=scholars_day_conference

Rock Sandpipers (Calidris ptilocnemis) are a shorebird species only found in the North Pacific Basin (Ruthrauff, et al. 2019; Fig. 1, 2). There are four subspecies of Rock Sandpipers, C. p. couesi, C. p. quarta, C. p. tschuktschorum, and C. p. Ptilocnemis (Gibson & Withrow, 2015). Of these four subspecies, three have an overall conservation category of moderately high with a current unknown status and high biological vulnerability due to environmental disturbances (ACCS at UAA, 2018). The three subspecies compared for differences in their genetic diversity and population relatedness were C.p. couesi, C.p. tschuktschorum, and C.p. ptilocnemis. The subspecies differed in their primary migratory and breeding locations: C.p. couesi is found in the Aleutian Islands, C.p. tschuktschorum is found on the Seward Peninsula and Cold Bay, and C.p. ptilocnemis is found on the Pribilof Islands. The subspecies are further distinguished through their morphological differences among populations. C.p. ptilocnemis is of the greatest conservation size due to the differing population size of its two island populations.