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Bottlenecked but long-lived: high genetic diversity retained in white-tailed eagles upon recovery from population decline.

ABSTRACT: Most of the white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) populations in Europe experienced dramatic declines during the twentieth century. However, owing to intense conservation actions and the ban of DDT and other persistent pollutants, populations are currently recovering. We show that despite passing through demographic bottlenecks, white-tailed eagle populations have retained significant levels of genetic diversity. Both genetic and ringing data indicate that migration between populations has not been a major factor for the maintenance of genetic variability. We argue that the long generation time of eagles has acted as an intrinsic buffer against loss of genetic diversity, leading to a shorter effective time of the experienced bottleneck. Notably, conservation actions taken in several small sub-populations have ensured the preservation of a larger proportion of the total genetic diversity than if conservation had focused on the population stronghold in Norway. For conservation programmes targeting other endangered, long-lived species, our results highlight the possibility for local retention of high genetic diversity in isolated remnant populations.

SUBMITTER: Hailer F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1618921 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Bottlenecked but long-lived: high genetic diversity retained in white-tailed eagles upon recovery from population decline.

Hailer Frank F Helander Björn B Folkestad Alv O AO Ganusevich Sergei A SA Garstad Steinar S Hauff Peter P Koren Christian C Nygård Torgeir T Volke Veljo V Vilà Carles C Ellegren Hans H

Biology letters 20060601 2

Most of the white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) populations in Europe experienced dramatic declines during the twentieth century. However, owing to intense conservation actions and the ban of DDT and other persistent pollutants, populations are currently recovering. We show that despite passing through demographic bottlenecks, white-tailed eagle populations have retained significant levels of genetic diversity. Both genetic and ringing data indicate that migration between populations has n ...[more]

PMID: 17148392

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Genes of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) are essential for adaptive immune response in vertebrates, as they encode receptors that recognize peptides derived from the processing of intracellular (MHC class I) and extracellular (MHC class II) pathogens. High MHC diversity in natural populations is primarily generated and maintained by pathogen-mediated diversifying and balancing selection. It is, however, debated whether selection at the MHC can counterbalance the effects of drift in bottlenecked populations. The aim of this study was to assess allelic diversity of MHC genes in a recently bottlenecked bird of prey, the White-tailed Eagle Haliaeetus albicilla, as well as to compare mechanisms that shaped the evolution of MHC class I and class II in this species. RESULTS:We showed that significant levels of MHC diversity were retained in the core Central European (Polish) population of White-tailed Eagles. Ten MHC class I and 17 MHC class II alleles were recovered in total and individual birds showed high average MHC diversity (3.80 and 6.48 MHC class I and class II alleles per individual, respectively). Distribution of alleles within individuals provided evidence for the presence of at least three class I and five class II loci the White-tailed Eagle, which suggests recent duplication events. MHC class II showed greater sequence polymorphism than MHC class I and there was much stronger signature of diversifying selection acting on MHC class II than class I. Phylogenetic analysis provided evidence for trans-species similarity of class II, but not class I, sequences, which is likely consistent with stronger balancing selection at MHC class II. CONCLUSIONS:Relatively high MHC diversity retained in the White-tailed Eagles from northern Poland reinforces high conservation value of local eagle populations. At the same time, our study is the first to demonstrate contrasting patterns of allelic diversity and selection at MHC class I and class II in an accipitrid species, supporting the hypothesis that different mechanisms can shape evolutionary trajectories of MHC class I and class II genes.

Dataset Information

Bottlenecked but long-lived: high genetic diversity retained in white-tailed eagles upon recovery from population decline.

Publications

Bottlenecked but long-lived: high genetic diversity retained in white-tailed eagles upon recovery from population decline.

Similar Datasets

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