Abstract
A limited number of studies have focused on the population genetic structure of vampire bats (Desmous rotundus) in America. This medium-sized bat is distributed in tropical areas of the continent with high prevalence in forested livestock areas. The aim of this work was to characterize the vampire population structure and their genetic differentiation. For this, we followed standard methods by which live vampires (caught by mist-netting) and preserved material from scientific collections, were obtained for a total of 15 different locations, ranging from Chihuahua (North) to Quintana Roo (Southeast). Tissue samples were obtained from both live and collected animals, and the genetic differentiation, within and among localities, was assessed by the use of seven microsatellite loci. Our results showed that all loci were polymorphic and no private alleles were detected. High levels of heterozygosis were detected when the proportion of alleles in each locus were compared. Pairwise (ST) and R(ST) detected significant genetic differentiation among individuals from different localities. Our population structure results indicate the presence of eleven clusters, with a high percentage of assigned individuals to some specific collecting site.
Highlights
The genetic structure of wild animals reveals information about population size, dispersal, reproductive success, mating system, relatedness, among much other potential information (Kerth, Safi, & König, 2002)
We studied the vampire bat population genetics to evaluate genetic diversity, genetic structure and genetic divergence among different populations along its distributional range in Mexico
The present study represents the largest sampling of D. rotundus in México to date, and indicates that genetic diversity is high for all sampled populations, with well-defined populations related to the collected areas
Summary
The genetic structure of wild animals reveals information about population size, dispersal, reproductive success, mating system, relatedness, among much other potential information (Kerth, Safi, & König, 2002). Martins, Templeton, Pavan, Kohlbach, and Morgante (2009), examined vampire bats samples from Central America and Brazil by using mitochondrial and nuclear markers Their results revealed geographical structure with a historical scenario with mtDNA but no phylogeographic structure with nuclear markers and suggested that these contrasting patterns are compatible with complete isolation in Pleistocene refuges. These previous works examined genetic diversity in vampire bats populations in different regions, they did not study genetic structure and genetic diversity in the Northern most range of its distribution. We show that vampire bats can benefit with human disturbance in the context of genetic diversity by presenting our data in different quantitative ways
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