May Captive Populations of Greater Rhea (Rhea americana) act as Genetic Reservoirs in Argentina?

ALONSO ROLDÁN V,; NAVARRO J.L.; GARDENAL C.N.; MARTELLA M. B.

ZOO BIOLOGY

WILEY-LISS, DIV JOHN WILEY & SONS INC

Año: 2011 vol. 30 p. 65 - 70

0733-3188

The Greater Rhea (Rhea americana) is a characteristic bird of the ArgentinePampas. Despite the increasing farming interest of this ratite, their naturalpopulations are progressively decreasing in size and range. The object of thisstudy was to evaluate the status of captive populations as potential geneticreservoirs. Using Inter-Simple Sequence Repeats as molecular markers, levels ofgenetic variability of F1 individuals from two captive populations were estimatedand compared with those of wild populations in the same region. The captivepopulations were polymorphic for 12.22 and 13.33% of the loci, with a geneticdiversity of 0.050. Differences with wild populations were not significant(z51.79; P40.05). Therefore, captive populations of rheas in Argentina shouldnot be overlooked as genetic reservoir and source of individuals for reinforcementof natural populations, through reintroduction and translocation