Theses and Dissertations
Issuing Body
Mississippi State University
Advisor
Welch, Mark E.
Committee Member
Ervin, Gary N.
Committee Member
Counterman, Brian A.
Date of Degree
8-7-2020
Original embargo terms
Visible to MSU only for 2 years
Document Type
Graduate Thesis - Open Access
Major
Biological Sciences
Degree Name
Master of Science
Degree Name
Master of Science (M.S.)
College
College of Arts and Sciences
College
College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Department of Biological Sciences
Department
Department of Biological Sciences
Abstract
In this study, we used ostensibly neutral microsatellite markers to study genetic variance and heterozygosity of endangered Cyclura lewisi during captive management in the Blue Iguana Recovery Programme. We assessed the variation present in the founding population and how genetic diversity changed throughout the past 20 years of management. We also studied how heterozygosity may correlate with fitness through morphometric measures and success of recruitment after release into the wild. While we found a reduction in effective population size, standardized heterozygosity, and fixation indices did not significantly change from the founders to later generations. We found no evidence for inbreeding depression in the captive population but a significant difference in heterozygosity of animals released to the Salina Reserve. Lastly, we found little evidence to support heterozygosityitness correlations using morphometric measures.
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/11668/18467
Recommended Citation
McKinney, Mallory, "A genetic assessment of the Blue Iguana Recovery Programme’s success, and prognosis for the species’ future conservation" (2020). Theses and Dissertations. 141.
https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td/141