Abstract
Genetic data can be highly informative for answering questions relevant to practical conservation efforts, but remain one of the most neglected aspects of species recovery plans. Framing genetic questions with reference to practical and tractable conservation objectives can help bypass this limitation of the application of genetics in conservation. Using a single-nucleotide polymorphism dataset from reduced-representation sequencing (DArTSeq), we conducted a genetic assessment of remnant populations of the endangered forty-spotted pardalote (Pardalotus quadragintus), a songbird endemic to Tasmania, Australia. Our objectives were to inform strategies for the conservation of genetic diversity in the species and estimate effective population sizes and patterns of inter-population movement to identify management units relevant to population conservation and habitat restoration. We show population genetic structure and identify two small populations on mainland Tasmania as ‘satellites’ of larger Bruny Island populations connected by migration. Our data identify management units for conservation objectives relating to genetic diversity and habitat restoration. Although our results do not indicate the immediate need to genetically manage populations, the small effective population sizes we estimated for some populations indicate that they are vulnerable to genetic drift, highlighting the urgent need to implement habitat restoration to increase population size and to conduct genetic monitoring. We discuss how our genetic assessment can be used to inform management interventions for the forty-spotted pardalote and show that by assessing contemporary genetic aspects, valuable information for conservation planning and decision-making can be produced to guide actions that account for genetic diversity and increase chances of recovery in species of conservation concern.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 289-301 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Heredity |
| Volume | 130 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| Early online date | 5 Apr 2023 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - May 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors thank Eric Lira, Marlene and Brendan Schmidt, Matt Eyles, Dr Tonia Cochran, Phil Collins, Susan and John Wardl, Lockie Story. Tom Watson, Catherine Young, Giselle Owens, Jas Allnutt, Beth MacDonald, Javier Cotin, Meagan Grabowski, Kelsie Hardman, Marika van der Pol, Charlie Governali, George Cummins, Coralie Tate, Ryan Steiner, Marissa Buschow, Sam Case and Sean MacDonald provided assistance in the field. Bruce and Lynn Michaels (Weetapoona Aboriginal Corporation) provided access to Murrayfield Farm. This project is supported by NRM South, through funding from the Australian Government and by grants to FA from The Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment & the Ecological Society of Australia; the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund [172516602], BirdLife Australia (Professor Allen Keast Research Award), and Kingborough council, with additional support from the Australian National University Research School of Biology, and 1156 people who contributed to our crowdfunding campaign ‘Parrots, the pardalote and the possum’. Sample collection during 2012–2016 was funded by grants to ME from Birdlife Australia (Emu‐Austral Ornithology Award, Professor Allen Keast Student Research Award, Stuart Leslie Bird Research), the Paddy Pallin Foundation Terrestrial Conservation Grant, the AAS Margaret Middleton Fund for Endangered Australian Vertebrates, the Ecological Society of Australia (Jill Landsberg Trust Fund Scholarship), the Holsworth Wildlife Research Fund, the Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society (Grant‐in‐aid of research), the Australian Wildlife Society (University Student Grant), and the Natural Science and Engineering Council of Canada (Postgraduate Scholarship‐Doctoral). DS received support from the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program through the Threatened Species Recovery Hub. We thank four anonymous reviewers for their helpful improvements to this manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).