title: Genetic variability in mitochondrial and nuclear genes of Larus dominicanus (Charadriiformes, Laridae) from the Brazilian coast.
abstract: Several phylogeographic studies of seabirds have documented low genetic diversity that has been attributed to bottleneck events or individual capacity for dispersal. Few studies have been done in seabirds on the Brazilian coast and all have shown low genetic differentiation on a wide geographic scale. The Kelp Gull is a common species with a wide distribution in the Southern Hemisphere. In this study, we used mitochondrial and nuclear markers to examine the genetic variability of Kelp Gull populations on the Brazilian coast and compared this variability with that of sub-Antarctic island populations of this species. Kelp Gulls showed extremely low genetic variability for mitochondrial markers (cytb and ATPase) and high diversity for a nuclear locus (intron 7 of the β-fibrinogen). The intraspecific evolutionary history of Kelp Gulls showed that the variability found in intron 7 of the β-fibrinogen gene was compatible with the variability expected under neutral evolution but suggested an increase in population size during the last 10,000 years. However, none of the markers revealed evidence of a bottleneck population. These findings indicate that the recent origin of Kelp Gulls is the main explanation for their nuclear diversity, although selective pressure on the mtDNA of this species cannot be discarded.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Biologia Evolutiva e Conservação de Vertebrados, Departamento de Genética e Biologia Evolutiva, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Gisele Pires
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: de Mendonça Dantas
authors.forename: Diogo
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: Raquel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Godinho
authors.forename: Nuno
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ferrand
authors.forename: João Stenghel
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Morgante