Demographic status and genetic tagging of endangered capercaillie in NW Spain

MORÁN- LUIS MARÍA; FAMELI ALBERTO; BLANCO-FONTAO BEATRIZ; R RODRIGUEZ MUÑOZ; QUEVEDO MARIO; MIROL PATRICIA; BAÑUELOS MARÍA

PLOS ONE

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE

Lugar: San Francisco; Año: 2014 vol. 9 p. 1 - 9

1932-6203

AbstractCounting rare and elusive animals and evaluating their demographic status, are fundamental yet challenging aspects ofpopulation ecology and conservation biology. We set out to estimate population size (Nc), genetic effective population size(Ne gen), sex ratio, and movements based on genetic tagging for the threatened Cantabrian capercaillie. We used 9microsatellite loci to genotype 134 droppings collected at 34 display areas during the breeding season. Using geneticcapture-mark-recapture, we estimated 93 individuals (Nc, 95% CI: 70?116) in an area of about 500 km2, with sex ratio biasedtowards males (1:1.6). Estimated Ne gen (35.5) was 38% of Nc, notably higher than the published average in wild populations.This capercaillie population is small and well within concern in terms of population viability. By genetic tagging, wedetected mostly short movements; just a few males were recaptured between contiguous display areas. Non-invasivesurveys of endangered populations have a great potential, yet adequate sample size and location are key to obtain reliableinformation on conservation status.