Phylogeography of Rattus norvegicus in the South Atlantic Ocean

Melanie Hingston,Stuart Piertney,Sally Poncet,Sofia Gabriel,James Russell,Ken Passfield,Michael Tabak

doi:10.3390/d8040032

Abstract

Norway rats are a globally distributed invasive species, which have colonized many islands around the world, including in the South Atlantic Ocean. We investigated the phylogeography of Norway rats across the South Atlantic Ocean and bordering continental countries. We identified haplotypes from 517 bp of the hypervariable region I of the mitochondrial D-loop and constructed a Bayesian consensus tree and median-joining network incorporating all other publicly available haplotypes via an alignment of 364 bp. Three Norway rat haplotypes are present across the islands of the South Atlantic Ocean, including multiple haplotypes separated by geographic barriers within island groups. All three haplotypes have been previously recorded from European countries. Our results support the hypothesis of rapid Norway rat colonization of South Atlantic Ocean islands by sea-faring European nations from multiple European ports of origin. This seems to have been the predominant pathway for repeated Norway rat invasions of islands, even within the same archipelago, rather than within-island dispersal across geographic barriers.

Highlights

The Norway rat is globally distributed and recognised as an urban and agricultural pest species and a threat to biodiversity [1]
Islands and were present on the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia prior to an eradication programme from 2011–2015. They co-exist with black rats (Rattus rattus Linnaeus, 1758) on the tropical islands of St Helena and Fernando de Noronha and potentially on São Tomé and Príncipe in the Gulf of Guinea [4]
Examination of the patterns of genetic variation in a phylogeographic context can help identify the provenance of extant populations on individual

Summary

Introduction

The Norway rat (brown rat, Rattus norvegicus Berkenhout 1769) is globally distributed and recognised as an urban and agricultural pest species and a threat to biodiversity [1]. Islands and were present on the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia prior to an eradication programme from 2011–2015 They co-exist with black rats (Rattus rattus Linnaeus, 1758) on the tropical islands of St Helena and Fernando de Noronha and potentially on São Tomé and Príncipe in the Gulf of Guinea [4]. Examination of the patterns of genetic variation in a phylogeographic context can help identify the provenance of extant populations on individual. A phylogeographic context can help identify the provenance of extant populations on individual or sometimes refute, historical human transportation routes [5], andislands. We analysedprogrammes the phylogeography of Norway rats from locations in both sources of reinvaders [7]

Methods

Results

Conclusion