Limited geographic genetic structure detected in a widespread Palearctic corvid, Nucifraga caryocatactes
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Biogeography, Ecology, Evolutionary Studies
- Keywords
- Nucifraga caryocatactes, Eurasian nutcracker, phylogeography, post-glacial colonization, palearctic distribution, corvid, mitochondrial DNA, species distribution modeling
- Copyright
- © 2014 Dohms et al.
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
- Cite this article
- 2014. Limited geographic genetic structure detected in a widespread Palearctic corvid, Nucifraga caryocatactes. PeerJ PrePrints 2:e319v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.319v1
Abstract
The Eurasian or spotted nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes) is a widespread resident corvid found throughout the Palearctic from Central Europe to Japan. Characterized by periodic bouts of irruptive dispersal in search of Pinus seed crops, this species has potential for high levels of gene flow across its range. Previous analysis of 11 individuals did not find significant range-wide population genetic structure. We investigated population structure using 924 base pairs of mitochondrial DNA control region sequence data from 62 individuals from 12 populations distributed throughout the nutcracker’s range. We complemented this analysis by incorporating additional genetic data from previously published sequences. High levels of genetic diversity and limited population genetic structure were detected suggesting that potential barriers to dispersal do not restrict gene flow in nutcrackers.
Supplemental Information
Supplemental Table S1
Eurasian nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes) sample codes, geographic location, voucher number from Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture – University of Washington, and GenBank accession numbers.