Authors: Almudena López Manuel Vera Francisco OteroFerrer Belén G Pardo Paulino Martínez Lucía Molina Carmen Bouza
Publish Date: 2010/08/08
Volume: 11, Issue: 6, Pages: 2431-2436
Abstract
A noninvasive DNA analysis of seahorse populations was carried out after extensive underwater surveys in Gran Canaria Island Spain In this geographical area the presence of two species Hippocampus hippocampus and H guttulatus has been previously reported Sequencing of 16S ribosomal DNA 16S rDNA was used for specific identification of live seahorses sampled in situ as a previous step to evaluate genetic structure based on ten microsatellite markers Phylogenetic analyses revealed the presence of a single species H hippocampus in the seahorse communities found at Gran Canaria No evidences of H guttulatus or interspecific hybrids were found based on 16S rDNA and microsatellite data The nuclear markers revealed low genetic diversity and lack of population structure across populations of Gran Canaria Island with evidence of small population sizes This study provides critical information to support conservation strategies of Gran Canaria seahorsesThis work was supported by the Spanish Goverment MCYTCGL200505927C02/C03 and Xunta de Galicia PGIDIT06PXIC261075PN We thank to the Canary Government Consejería Medio Ambiente for fieldwork permission Also thanks to Miquel Planas CSICVigo for supplying Galician samples María López and Sonia Gómez for technical assistance and J Antonio ÁlvarezDios for useful comments BGP is supported by Isidro Parga Pondal fellowship Xunta de Galicia
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