Populações brasileiras da espécie exótica invasora Bubulcus ibis: distribuição da diversidade genética avaliada pelos microssatélites

Abstract

The Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) is a median sized bird, of African origin, considered as an invasive and exotic species in the American continent. In Brazil, first record was in the north, in 1964. The species have been maintaining a pattern of constant population growth, endangering the reproduction and survivorship of native species, as observed in the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha. The purposes of this work were the isolation of microsatellite loci for the species in question and to genetically characterize Brazilian populations, as a starting point in a study that contributes for the comprehension of the colonization process occurred in the country. Thereafter, two partially enriched genomic libraries were obtained, in which the generated fragments were posteriorly sequenced and analyzed for the presence of microsatellite sequences; being the cloning efficacy of 15.74%. Thirty-two microsatellite loci were selected for the analysis, of which eleven proved to be polymorphic. Content of polymorphic information for these loci varied between 0.079 and 0.453. Fragments of expected size were amplified in the eleven polymorphic loci in other six species from the same family as the Cattle Egret. Six populations from different latitudes in the country were genotyped in seven polymorphic loci. A low variability was found, with mean values of expected heterozigosity in the populations varying between 0.408 and 0.562. The population holding the higher diversity was the northern one, closest to the point of the first historic record of the species in the country. Low genetic structuring by AMOVA was detected, and some values of pairwise Fst and Rst proved to be significant when the pair contained populations from South and North of the country. Effective size (Ne) of the Brazilian population was 6.6 individuals (95% CL: 5.7-7.7). Diversity indices and population parameters analyzed did not show evidence that the dispersion of individuals occurred in a north-south axis, occurring more in an opportunistic and erratic manner. Fernando de Noronha s population, which have been managed by a population control program since 2007, presented diversity levels and population parameters comparable to the mainland populations, what indicates that the species will not be easily eliminated from this area.