title: Conservation genetics of a threatened butterfly: comparison of allozymes, RAPDs and microsatellites.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Addressing genetic issues in the management of fragmented wild populations of threatened species is one of the most important challenges in conservation biology. Nowadays, a diverse array of molecular methods exists to assess genetic diversity and differentiation of wild populations such as allozymes, dominant markers and co-dominant markers. However it remains worthwhile i) to compare the genetic estimates obtained using those several markers in order to ii) test their relative utility, reliability and relevance and iii) the impact of these results for the design of species-specific conservation measures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Following the successful isolation of 15 microsatellites loci for the cranberry fritillary butterfly, Boloria aquilonaris, we analyzed the genetic diversity and structure of eight populations located in four different landscapes, at both the regional and the landscape scales. We confront results based on microsatellites to those obtained using allozymes and RAPDs on the same samples. Genetic population analyses using different molecular markers indicate that the B. aquilonaris populations are characterized by a weak genetic variation, likely due to low effective population size and low dispersal at the regional scale. This results in inbreeding in some populations, which may have detrimental consequences on their long term viability. However, gene flow within landscape is limited but not inexistent, with some long range movements resulting in low or no isolation by distance. Spatial structuring was detected among the most isolated populations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The use of allozymes and RAPD are of very limited value to determine population structuring at small spatial (i.e. landscape) scales, microsatellites giving much higher estimate resolution. The use of RAPD data is also limited for evidencing inbreeding. However, coarse-grain spatial structure (i.e. regional scale), and gene flow estimates based on RAPD and microsatellites data gave congruent results. At a time with increasing development of new molecular methods and markers, dominant markers may still be worthwhile to consider in organisms for which no genomic information is available, and for which limited resources are available.
authors.affiliation: Biodiversity Research Centre, Earth and Life Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Place Croix du Sud 4, Louvain-la-Neuve, B-1348, Belgium. camille.turlure@uclouvain.be.
authors.forename: Camille
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Turlure
authors.affiliation: Biodiversity Research Centre, Earth and Life Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Place Croix du Sud 4, Louvain-la-Neuve, B-1348, Belgium. svandewoestijne@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Sofie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vandewoestijne
authors.affiliation: CNRS USR 2936 Station d'Ecologie Expérimentale du CNRS à Moulis, F-09200, Moulis, France. baguette@mnhn.fr.|Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Institut de Systématique, Evolution et Biodiversité, UMR 7205, 57 rue Cuvier, Paris cedex 5, F-75005, France. baguette@mnhn.fr.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baguette
mesh_terms: D025041:Animal Migration; D000818:Animals; D002080:Butterflies / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D056727:Endangered Species; D051456:Gene Flow; D005819:Genetic Markers; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D007527:Isoenzymes / Q000235:genetics*; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D011156:Population Density; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers; D019476:Insect Proteins; D007527:Isoenzymes