title: Microsatellite variation and population structure in a declining Australian Hylid Litoria aurea.
abstract: The green and golden bell frog (Litoria aurea) was once a common Australian Hylid. Today, many populations are small and fragmented as a result of dramatic declines in distribution and abundance. We undertook a large-scale assessment of genetic structure and diversity in L. aurea using four species-specific microsatellite markers. Twenty-one locations were sampled from throughout the species range covering 1000 km of the east coast of Australia. Levels of allelic diversity and heterozygosity were high (uncorrected mean alleles/locus and H(E) were 4.8-8.8 and 0.43-0.8, respectively) compared to other amphibian species and significant differences among sampled sites were recorded. Despite recent population declines, no sites displayed a genetic signature indicative of a population bottleneck. Significant genetic structuring (overall F(ST) 0.172) was detected throughout the species range, but was relatively low compared to previous amphibian studies employing microsatellites. In addition we found that some areas sampled within continuous habitat showed evidence of weak genetic structuring (data subset F(ST) 0.034). We conclude that maintaining areas of continuous habitat is critical to the conservation of the species and argue that population recovery and/or persistence in all areas sampled is possible if appropriate protection and management are afforded.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, NSW, 2052, Australia. e.burns@student.unsw.edu.au
authors.forename: Emma L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Burns
authors.forename: Mark D B
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Eldridge
authors.forename: Bronwyn A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Houlden
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001001:Anura / Q000235:genetics*; D001315:Australia; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004777:Environment; D005787:Gene Frequency; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005843:Geography; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics; D011157:Population Dynamics