Population structure of the lesser snow geese of Wrangel Island, Russia

Abstract

AbstractThe snow geese which breed on Wrangel Island (WI) comprise two different populations which nest together but winter in two widely separated locations; one in southwest British Columbia and northwest Washington State, the other in California and southern Oregon. Birds from the northern wintering area are isolated from birds of other breeding colonies, but birds from the southern area mix with birds from the large colonies in the western Canadian Arctic. Since birds pair mainly during the winter, there is opportunity for gene exchange between WI birds using the southern wintering area and birds nesting in the Western Canadian Arctic. This is reflected in the patterns of ringing recoveries. The majority of WI birds are faithful to the same wintering area both within and between years. Opportunities for gene exchange among the two WI populations are considerable: on the breeding grounds through extra-pair copulation (EPC), intraspecific nest parasitism (INP) and fostering and on the wintering grounds ...