Sea turtle conservation: genetics and genomics for a better management

dc.contributor
Universitat de Barcelona. Departament de Genètica, Microbiologia i Estadística
dc.contributor.author
Barbanti, Anna
dc.date.accessioned
2021-07-15T07:22:03Z
dc.date.available
2021-07-15T07:22:03Z
dc.date.issued
2021-09-23
dc.identifier.uri
http://hdl.handle.net/10803/672159
dc.description.abstract
Conservation actions aim to preserve and recover animal and plant species using in-situ or ex- situ strategies. The first, aims to protect and sustain populations in their natural habitat, the second are implemented when local populations are extinct or are about to be. Conservation genetics can provide important insights into the dynamics of endangered populations facilitating their management. This thesis uses traditional markers and new generation sequencing to improve conservation management of the loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and the green turtle (Chelonia mydas). In the first 2 chapters we used microsatellites and mtDNA to assess the outcome of a reintroduction program of green turtles in the Cayman Islands and the status of the reintroduced wild population. We found that 90% of adult wild females and 80% of wild F1 hatchlings were related to the captive population, proving the program successful. This relatedness did affect negatively the fitness of the wild population. Moreover, we found that after only one generation, genetic differentiation between the populations was significant. Our results suggest that assisted colonisation is a viable solution to the global decline of biodiversity. The third chapter explores the potential of 2b-RAD methodology in the field of non-model species population genomics and provides guidelines to optimise protocol and decision making using 2b-RAD. We discovered that, given the big genome size of the loggerhead turtle, a selective-base ligation should be used to obtain an overall depth of coverage of 20x and make the study cost-effective. The fourth chapter studies the population structure and local adaptation of 9 Eastern Mediterranean loggerhead turtle rookeries using 2b- RAD genomic sequencing. We found a high level of population structure and no overlapping among rookeries. Bayesian clustering indicated our individuals to be grouped in nine genetic clusters, which correspond to the distribution found in the PCoA. We found that atmospheric temperature and geographic location of the rookery have a significant impact on population structure, as outlier loci were found associated with these predictors. These results aim to use fine scale genetic information of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea to inform and improve conservation management of loggerhead turtle rookeries.
en_US
dc.format.extent
196 p.
en_US
dc.format.mimetype
application/pdf
dc.language.iso
eng
en_US
dc.publisher
Universitat de Barcelona
dc.rights.license
L'accés als continguts d'aquesta tesi queda condicionat a l'acceptació de les condicions d'ús establertes per la següent llicència Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.rights.uri
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
*
dc.source
TDX (Tesis Doctorals en Xarxa)
dc.subject
Genètica de poblacions
en_US
dc.subject
Genética de poblaciones
en_US
dc.subject
Population Genetics
en_US
dc.subject
Genòmica
en_US
dc.subject
Genómica
en_US
dc.subject
Genomics
en_US
dc.subject
Tortugues marines
en_US
dc.subject
Tortugas marinas
en_US
dc.subject
Sea turtles
en_US
dc.subject
Gestió de la fauna
en_US
dc.subject
Gestión de la fauna
en_US
dc.subject
Wildlife management
en_US
dc.subject.other
Ciències Experimentals i Matemàtiques
en_US
dc.title
Sea turtle conservation: genetics and genomics for a better management
en_US
dc.type
info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis
dc.type
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
dc.subject.udc
575
en_US
dc.contributor.director
Pascual Berniola, Marta
dc.contributor.director
Carreras Huergo, Carlos
dc.contributor.tutor
Pascual Berniola, Marta
dc.embargo.terms
cap
en_US
dc.rights.accessLevel
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess


Documentos

ANNA BARBANTI_PhD_THESIS.pdf

63.33Mb PDF

Este ítem aparece en la(s) siguiente(s) colección(ones)