Mitochondrial DNA and nuclear gene diversity among white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) populations in the southeastern United States and within the North American prairie grouse (Tympanuchus) complex /
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| Other Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
1991.
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| Online Access: | Link to OAKTrust copy |
| Abstract: | Restriction-endonuclease analyses of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) coupled with examinations of allozymic variation were used to: (1) characterize contemporary geographic patterns of extranuclear and nuclear gene variation among white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) populations in the southeastern United States; and (2) address the role of historical biogeographic events, demography and human activity in shaping contemporary patterns of genetic differentiation in North American prairie grouse (genus Tympanuchus). Fifteen restriction enzymes were employed to survey and map 99 restriction sites in 142 white-tailed deer collected from five island and 13 mainland localities from South Carolina to Mississippi. Extensive nucleotide sequence divergence (δ) denoted two conspicuous zones of mtDNA differentiation which discriminated three primary associations of haplotypes. The prominent haplotype assemblages are strongly oriented geographically despite estimates of time since divergence of one million years or more. Congruence of the prominent phylogenetic discontinuities observed in white-tailed deer with concentrations of species distributional limits and areas of mtDNA differentiation in unrelated taxa suggest the common influence of historical biogeographic events (possibly glacial fractionation) on various extant species in the Southeast. Moderate nuclear (F[ST] = 0.153) but extreme organelle gene differentiation (G[ST] = 0.621) among white-tailed deer populations may reflect the increased sensitivity of organelle genes to genetic drift and/or demographic characteristics such as social organization and dispersal tendencies. Species of the prairie grouse complex (Tympanuchus) which occur throughout the Central Plains of North America were used to assay patterns of extranuclear and nuclear gene variation among avian taxa believed to have originated from the expansion of late Pleistocene refugial populations. In contrast to the prominent pattern of mtDNA differentiation among contiguous white-tailed deer populations, the phylogenetic distribution of mtDNA haplotypes and the pattern of allozymic variation in prairie grouse were neither geographically partitioned nor taxonomically constrained... |
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| Item Description: | Typescript (photocopy). Vita. "Major subject: Genetics." |
| Physical Description: | x, 113 leaves : illustrations ; 29 cm |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references. |