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Oldfield Mouse (oldfield + mouse)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Life Sciences	100%

Selected Abstracts

Increased Behavioral Variation and the Calculation of Release Numbers for Reintroduction Programs

CONSERVATION BIOLOGY, Issue 3 2004
M. ELSBETH McPHEE
This increased variation can translate into decreased survivorship upon reintroduction to native habitats. Data show that captive populations of oldfield mice (Peromyscus polionotus subgriseus) exhibit such an increase in variation. Motivated by these results, we developed a series of calculations for a "release ratio" that can be used to determine the number of captive-bred animals needed to compensate for the increased variance. We present calculations of release ratios for behavioral and morphological variables with different distributions and illustrate the functional relationship between release numbers, increased variation, and change in average behavior and morphology. Our calculations indicated that the release of 130,150 captive-bred oldfield mice is equivalent to the release of 100 wildlike animals. Release ratios will vary among species, however, and perhaps among different populations of the same species and should be calculated separately for each situation. Development of the release ratio is the first rigorous effort to incorporate behavioral and morphological changes due to captivity into reintroduction planning. Release ratios will help conservation biologists ensure that the appropriate number of animals is released, thus increasing the success of reintroduction programs. Resumen:,Las poblaciones cautivas pueden exhibir mayor variación conductual que sus contrapartes silvestres como resultado del relajamiento de presiones selectivas en el ambiente de cautiverio. Esta variación incrementada puede traducirse en una disminución de la supervivencia en la reintroducción a hábitats nativos. Hay datos que muestran que poblaciones cautivas de ratones Peromyscus polionotus subgriseus exhiben tal incremento en la variación. Motivados por estos resultados, desarrollamos una serie de cálculos para un "índice de liberación" que pueda utilizarse para determinar el número de animales criados en cautiverio requerido para compensar la variación incrementada. Presentamos los cálculos de 2 índices de liberación para variables conductuales y morfológicas con distribuciones diferentes e ilustramos la relación funcional entre el número de liberaciones, la variación incrementada y el cambio en la conducta promedio y la morfología. Nuestros cálculos indicaron que la liberación de 130 a 150 ratones es equivalente a la liberación de 100 animales silvestres. Sin embargo, los índices de liberación varían entre especies y quizás entre poblaciones diferentes de la misma especie y deben calcularse por separado en cada situación. El desarrollo de índices de liberación es el primer esfuerzo riguroso para incorporar cambios conductuales y morfológicos debido al cautiverio en la planificación de reintroducciones. Los índices de liberación ayudarán a que los biólogos de la conservación se aseguren que el número de animales liberados es el apropiado, incrementando con ello el éxito de los programas de reintroducción. [source]

NATURAL SELECTION ALONG AN ENVIRONMENTAL GRADIENT: A CLASSIC CLINE IN MOUSE PIGMENTATION

EVOLUTION, Issue 7 2008
Lynne M. Mullen
We revisited a classic study of morphological variation in the oldfield mouse (Peromyscus polionotus) to estimate the strength of selection acting on pigmentation patterns and to identify the underlying genes. We measured 215 specimens collected by Francis Sumner in the 1920s from eight populations across a 155-km, environmentally variable transect from the white sands of Florida's Gulf coast to the dark, loamy soil of southeastern Alabama. Like Sumner, we found significant variation among populations: mice inhabiting coastal sand dunes had larger feet, longer tails, and lighter pigmentation than inland populations. Most striking, all seven pigmentation traits examined showed a sharp decrease in reflectance about 55 km from the coast, with most of the phenotypic change occurring over less than 10 km. The largest change in soil reflectance occurred just south of this break in pigmentation. Geographic analysis of microsatellite markers shows little interpopulation differentiation, so the abrupt change in pigmentation is not associated with recent secondary contact or reduced gene flow between adjacent populations. Using these genetic data, we estimated that the strength of selection needed to maintain the observed distribution of pigment traits ranged from 0.0004 to 21%, depending on the trait and model used. We also examined changes in allele frequency of SNPs in two pigmentation genes, Mc1r and Agouti, and show that mutations in the cis -regulatory region of Agouti may contribute to this cline in pigmentation. The concordance between environmental variation and pigmentation in the face of high levels of interpopulation gene flow strongly implies that natural selection is maintaining a steep cline in pigmentation and the genes underlying it. [source]

Sixty polymorphic microsatellite markers for the oldfield mouse developed in Peromyscus polionotus and Peromyscus maniculatus

MOLECULAR ECOLOGY RESOURCES, Issue 1 2006
LYNNE M. MULLEN
Abstract We isolated and characterized 60 novel microsatellite markers from the closely related oldfield mouse (Peromyscus polionotus) and deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) for studies of conservation, ecological, quantitative and population genetics. We assessed all 60 markers in a wild population of Peromyscus polionotus rhoadsi (N = 20) from central Florida and found an average of nine alleles per marker and an observed heterozygosity (HO) of 0.66 (range = 0.00,1.00). These polymorphic markers contribute to the growing number of genomic resources for Peromyscus, an emerging model system for ecological and evolutionary research. [source]