Growth Rate of the Spotted Turtle, Clemmys guttata, in Southern Rhode Island

1970 ◽  
Vol 4 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry E. Graham
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Rhode Island ◽  
Clemmys Guttata ◽  
Spotted Turtle

Conservation genetics of the endangered Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata) illustrate the risks of “bottleneck tests”

2014 ◽  
Vol 92 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina M. Davy ◽  
Robert W. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Population Genetics ◽  
Freshwater Turtles ◽  
Population Declines ◽  
Isolated Populations ◽  
Principal Coordinates Analysis ◽  
Turtle Species ◽  
Principal Coordinates ◽  
Clemmys Guttata ◽  
Spotted Turtle ◽  
Cast Doubt

Studies of population genetics in turtles have suggested that turtles do not experience genetic impacts of bottlenecks as strongly as expected. However, recent studies cast doubt on two commonly used tests implemented in the program BOTTLENECK, suggesting that these findings should be re-evaluated. The Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata (Schneider, 1792)) is endangered both globally and within Canada, but genetic data required to develop effective recovery strategies are unavailable. Here, we conducted the first study of population genetic structure in C. guttata. We then used multiple small populations of C. guttata as replicates to test whether the commonly used program BOTTLENECK could detect the genetic signature of bottlenecks in our study populations, which are all thought to have experienced significant declines in the past 2–3 generations (75 years). Turtles (n = 256) were genotyped at 11 microsatellite loci. A suite of Bayesian population genetics analyses and a principal coordinates analysis identified a minimum of 6 distinct genetic populations and a maximum of 10 differentiated subpopulations across the sampled Canadian range of C. guttata, which corresponded to demographically independent units. BOTTLENECK failed to detect population declines. A literature review found that bottleneck tests in 17 of 18 previous genetic studies of tortoises and freshwater turtles were based on suboptimal sampling, potentially confounding their results. High retention of genetic diversity (allelic richness and heterozygosity) in isolated populations of C. guttata and other turtle species is encouraging for species recovery, but conclusions about the prevalence of genetic bottlenecks in such populations should be re-examined.

scholarly journals Transferrin polymorphisms and growth rate in Rhode Island Red, crossbred and native chickens

1991 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 231-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Zaman ◽  
A. Ali ◽  
M. O. Faruque ◽  
A. K. F. H. Bhuiyan
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Rhode Island ◽  
Native Chickens

scholarly journals A Comparison of the Population Genetic Structure and Diversity between a Common (Chrysemys p. picta) and an Endangered (Clemmys guttata) Freshwater Turtle

Diversity ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott W. Buchanan ◽  
Jason J. Kolbe ◽  
Johanna E. Wegener ◽  
Jessica R. Atutubo ◽  
Nancy E. Karraker
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Structure ◽  
Rhode Island ◽  
Population Genetic Structure ◽  
Landscape Change ◽  
Population Genetic ◽  
Freshwater Turtle ◽  
Freshwater Turtles ◽  
Painted Turtles ◽  
Clemmys Guttata ◽  
Genetic Structure And Diversity

The northeastern United States has experienced dramatic alteration to its landscape since the time of European settlement. This alteration has had major impacts on the distribution and abundance of wildlife populations, but the legacy of this landscape change remains largely unexplored for most species of freshwater turtles. We used microsatellite markers to characterize and compare the population genetic structure and diversity between an abundant generalist, the eastern painted turtle (Chrysemys p. picta), and the rare, more specialized, spotted turtle (Clemmys guttata) in Rhode Island, USA. We predicted that because spotted turtles have disproportionately experienced the detrimental effects of habitat loss and fragmentation associated with landscape change, that these effects would manifest in the form of higher inbreeding, less diversity, and greater population genetic structure compared to eastern painted turtles. As expected, eastern painted turtles exhibited little population genetic structure, showed no evidence of inbreeding, and little differentiation among sampling sites. For spotted turtles, however, results were consistent with certain predictions and inconsistent with others. We found evidence of modest inbreeding, as well as tentative evidence of recent population declines. However, genetic diversity and differentiation among sites were comparable between species. As our results do not suggest any major signals of genetic degradation in spotted turtles, the southern region of Rhode Island may serve as a regional conservation reserve network, where the maintenance of population viability and connectivity should be prioritized.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document