Population genetic diversity and fitness in multiple environments |
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Authors: | Jeffrey A Markert,Denise M Champlin,Ruth Gutjahr-Gobell,Jason S Grear,Anne Kuhn,Thomas J McGreevy Suffix" >Jr,Annette Roth,Mark J Bagley,Diane E Nacci |
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Affiliation: | (1) Population Ecology Branch, Atlantic Ecology Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 27 Tarzwell Dr., Narragansett, RI, USA;(2) Molecular Ecology Research Branch, Ecological Exposure Research Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 26 Martin Luther King Dr., 45268 Cincinnati, OH, USA;(3) Department of Natural Resources Science, Coastal Institute, University of Rhode Island, 1 Greenhouse Rd., 02881 Kingston, RI, USA;(4) c/o U.S. Geological Survey, San Diego Field Station, Western Ecology Research Center, 4165 Spruance Rd., 92101 San Diego, CA, USA |
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Abstract: | Background When a large number of alleles are lost from a population, increases in individual homozygosity may reduce individual fitness through inbreeding depression. Modest losses of allelic diversity may also negatively impact long-term population viability by reducing the capacity of populations to adapt to altered environments. However, it is not clear how much genetic diversity within populations may be lost before populations are put at significant risk. Development of tools to evaluate this relationship would be a valuable contribution to conservation biology. To address these issues, we have created an experimental system that uses laboratory populations of an estuarine crustacean, Americamysis bahia with experimentally manipulated levels of genetic diversity. We created replicate cultures with five distinct levels of genetic diversity and monitored them for 16 weeks in both permissive (ambient seawater) and stressful conditions (diluted seawater). The relationship between molecular genetic diversity at presumptive neutral loci and population vulnerability was assessed by AFLP analysis. |
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