Literaturdatenbank
Literaturdatenbank |
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Hauswaldt, S. J. (2004). Population genetics and mating pattern of the diamondback terrapin (malaclemys terrapin). Unpublished thesis PhD, University of South Carolina.
Added by: Admin (14 Aug 2008 20:38:47 UTC) |
| Resource type: Thesis/Dissertation BibTeX citation key: Hauswaldt2004 View all bibliographic details  |
Categories: General Keywords: Fortpflanzung = reproduction, Genetik = genetics, Schildkröten = turtles + tortoises, Systematik = taxonomy Creators: Hauswaldt Publisher: University of South Carolina |
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| Abstract |
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The diamondback terrapin is the only estuarine species of turtle in North America. This species used to be very common and import economically for terrapin soup, but was greatly reduced in abundance throughout much its range around the beginning of the twentieth century due to over-harvest. Unfortunately, little is known about its population biology and reproductive behavior. In the first chapter, I describe the isolation procedure for six polymorphic microsatellite DNA loci for this species and their ability to be amplified in other species of turtles. The second chapter describes intra- and inter-estuarine population genetic structure. Diamondback terrapins have much less population genetic structure than I originally hypothesized based on site fidelity of adults inferred from mark-recapture data. Moreover, terrapins from Texas were more similar to turtles from the East Coast, than either were to turtles from the Florida Keys. I attribute this unexpected similarity to humans translocating terrapins, but discuss other possibilities. The third chapter comprises a study of multiple paternity (MP). Contrary to my expectations, I found that multiple paternity occurs relatively infrequently in diamondback terrapins compared to other species of turtles. I propose that the unexpected low frequency of MP may be due to the extreme sexual size dimorphism in this species. In terrapins, compared to other species of turtles, the size dimorphism is extreme with females reaching over three times the size of males. Therefore, it may be easier for females of this species to ward off pursuing males. The fourth chapter contains a description of the mitochondrial control region in terrapins. The control region sequence is highly conserved in this species, but contains two regions with highly variable numbers of repeats. I was unable to find population genetic structure among terrapins between South Carolina and New York. Control region sequences of Texas and Florida terrapins were more similar to each other compared to those of terrapins from the East Coast. The 3 Added by: Admin |