I examined genetic variation for two populations of Black-crowned Night Herons
using a 467 base pair region of the mitochondrial DNA. One population inhabits an
environment highly impacted by industrial waste, heavy metals, and urbanization; while
the other, a reference population, comes from a contaminant-free area. I observed a total
of 10 haplotypes, three of which the two populations share. One individual from the
contaminated site was ostensibly heteroplasmic. I found no evidence of significant
genetic differentiation between the two populations. Coalescent simulation results
provided evidence that both populations have undergone or are currently undergoing
population expansion. The results of the biological marker I developed showed a high
diversity for the ND-6 gene, making it a useful biomarker of population effects.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/4698 |
| Date | 25 April 2007 |
| Creators | Bernard, Danielle Summer |
| Contributors | Arnold, Keith A |
| Publisher | Texas A&M University |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Thesis, text |
| Format | 181768 bytes, electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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