Genetic diversity and population genetic structure of the Wood Turtle (Glyptemys insculpta) at Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, USA Article

Castellano, CM, Behler, JL, Amato, G. (2009). Genetic diversity and population genetic structure of the Wood Turtle (Glyptemys insculpta) at Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, USA . CONSERVATION GENETICS, 10(6), 1783-1788. 10.1007/s10592-008-9743-6

cited authors

  • Castellano, CM; Behler, JL; Amato, G

authors

abstract

  • Glyptemys insculpta is considered to be one of the most endangered freshwater turtles in North America. Here microsatellite markers were employed to investigate the genetic variation and population structure of G. insculpta at Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (USA). Seven microsatellites revealed high allelic variation with 13-30 alleles per locus. Observed and expected heterozygosities per locus ranged from 0.875-0.925 to 0.888-0.952, respectively. Pairwise estimates of population structure (θ) ranged from 0.000-0.013 to θ estimated over all loci and aggregations was not significantly different from zero. Gene flow (Nm) was high and ranged from 19 migrants per generation to infinity in pairwise comparisons. No significant relationship between geographic distance and genetic distance was detected. These data indicate that G. insculpta at DEWA represent a single, genetically diverse management unit for conservation. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2008.

publication date

  • November 1, 2009

published in

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

start page

  • 1783

end page

  • 1788

volume

  • 10

issue

  • 6