Genetic Structure of a Population of Liolaemus xanthoviridis Inferred from Microsatellite Markers

ESCUDERO, P.C.; TUCKER, D.; AVILA, L.J.; SITES, J.W., JR.; MORANDO, M.

New Orleans

Congreso; Joint Meeting Ichthyologist and Herpetologists; 2016

Microsatellites are useful markers for addressing questions on an ecological time scale given that they are relative neutral to natural selection and show high levels of variability. No studies use these molecular markers to answer ecological questions in the widespread and species-rich lizard genus Liolaemus, and here we use these markers to estimate the population structure and paternity of several clutches of eggs within a population of L. xanthoviridis. The study took place in Bahía Isla Escondida, Chubut (Argentina), during four spring-summer seasons (2012 to 2015). We marked and sexed all individuals captured, and transported gravid females to our laboratory. Digits of marked lizards were used for molecular work, and we amplified 8 microsatellite loci to characterized genetic diversity, paternity, and population structure. Our results showed that genetic diversity higher than in other species of lizards, the paternity analysis revealed absence of multiple paternity and that over the entire sampling area there is only one population of L. xanthoviridis. High genetic diversity is important given the restricted geographic distribution of this species, and the absence of multiple paternity suggests that it has a relatively large effective population size.