Use of genetic data in a species status assessment of the Sicklefin Redhorse (Moxostoma sp.)

• Published in: Conservation genetics Vol. 20; no. 5; pp. 1175 - 1185
• Main Authors: Moyer, Gregory R., Bohn, Sandra, Cantrell, Mark, Williams, Ashantye S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-10-2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Admixtures; Animal Genetics and Genomics; Anthropogenic factors; Bayesian analysis; Biodiversity; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Catastrophic events; Conservation biology; Conservation Biology/Ecology; Ecology; Endangered & extinct species; Endangered species; Environmental changes; Evolutionary Biology; Genetic markers; Hazards; Human influences; Life Sciences; Microsatellites; Moxostoma; Parameter estimation; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Population number; Populations; Protected species; Redundancy; Representations; Research Article; Resilience; River basins; Rivers; Species extinction; Stochasticity; Wildlife; Wildlife conservation; United States > US; Assignment; Microsatellite; Species Status Assessment; Admixture; Approximate Bayesian computation (ABC); Anthropogenic
• DOI: 10.1007/s10592-019-01202-3
• EISSN: 1572-9737
• ISSN: 1566-0621

Under the United States Endangered Species Act, a species is granted protection if it is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range. Since 2016, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service has adopted a more analytical approach to determining significant portion of its range. Termed Species Status Assessment (SSA), this approach addresses whether loss of individuals from a portion of its range will influence at least one of the conservation biology principles of redundancy (ability to withstand catastrophic events), resiliency (ability to withstand stochastic events), and representation (ability to adapt over time to long-term changes in the environment). Using Sicklefin Redhorse (
Moxostoma
sp.), we illustrate the use of genetic data to evaluate each SSA metric. We sampled (
n
 = 382) Sicklefin Redhorse from three major river basins throughout its contemporary distribution and estimated genetic parameters using ten microsatellite markers. Using STRUCTURE analyses, we showed that redundancy was three, but our approximate Bayesian computation analysis revealed that this value could be reduced to two if admixture, due to anthropogenic stressors of the 1900s, continues. We used estimates of effective population size (
Ne
) to measure resiliency and representation and found that all populations showed resiliency and representation with
Ne
 ≥ 479. Genetic monitoring of the Little Tennessee and Tuckasegee populations will be necessary to assess the future status of redundancy for this species. Any reduction in redundancy would warrant further ESA evaluation.